As Aston Villa prepare to bid farewell to Moussa Diaby, who looks set to complete a transfer to Saudi side Al-Ittihad, attentions quickly turn to who may be next to come through the door at Villa Park if and when Unai Emery seeks to replenish his attacking ranks.
Diaby has only been at Villa for a single season having joined last summer from Bayer Leverkusen for a Villa record deal, but 12 months on it would appear as though the French international is destined for another big money move. He contributed to 19 goals in his 54 outings for Villa last term.
Diaby, 25, reunited with former PSG boss Unai Emery when he signed last summer for almost £52m, but Emery – who has been extremely busy already this window and who is set to welcome in the likes of Jaden Philogene and Amadou Onana in the coming days – is expected to work with Monchi to identify a successor to the playmaker, who was absent as Villa beat Walsall in their pre-season friendly on Wednesday.
In Spain, reports have emerged suggesting that former Leeds United star and Barcelona forward Raphinha could be of interest to Villa and Emery by way of a Diaby replacement. Raphinha has spent the last two seasons at the Camp Nou, where he has scored 20 goals in 87 appearances, and has continued to feature regularly for his native Brazil in that time, too.
He did indicate recently, too, that he had no intention of leaving Barca, where he still has three more years remaining on his contract: “Of course, I’m going to stay at Barcelona. “Next season and the next, and the next. I have many years of contract and I hope to fulfill those years and many other. Barcelona is a city that I love. We Brazilians are very happy here.”
Villa have already recruited Samuel Iling-Jr and Enzo Barrenechea from Juventus, Ross Barkley from Luton, Lewis Dobbin from Everton and Ian Maatsen from Chelsea, while Philogene is set to follow Cameron Archer in returning to Villa. Kosta Nedeljkovic has arrived, too, while as mentioned Everton midfielder Onana is expected to join imminently.
Reports in Spain suggest that Villa could secure Raphinha for around £55m if they wished to pursue him, and that that in turn would free up funds for Barca to chase a move for Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams.
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