Aston Villa are close to sealing a £9m deal for the Lille midfielder Idrissa Gueye, who is expected to fly into Birmingham for transfer talks on Thursday.
Gueye has been linked with several other Premier League clubs, including Southampton, West Ham United and Crystal Palace, but Villa have agreed a fee with Lille and hope to finalise the signing of the 25-year-old within the next 24 hours.
Gueye has played more than 130 games for Lille since making his debut for the Ligue 1 club in 2010 and would become Tim Sherwood’s second signing of the summer, following Micah Richards’ move from Manchester City on a four-year contract last month.
The Senegalese international, who has also been attracting interest from Marseille, could be Villa’s biggest outlay in the transfer market for four years.
