Since his arrival one year ago, Aston Villa have been revolutionised by Unai Emery, who has orchestrated their much-improved performances and propelled the club to a newfound level of success.

During his time at Villa Park, the Spaniard has transformed Ollie Watkins into a star striker, taking them from the threat of relegation to now firmly challenging for Europe.

It is quite a remarkable turnaround in one year and although Emery can take huge credit for that, especially with their meticulous recruitment in the transfer market, the bedrock of their success was laid down before his entrance.

With the breadth of quality being captured in the transfer market, it was only going to take a world-class manager to realise the potential of their talents, as the likes of Emiliano Martinez, Lucas Digne, Matty Cash, John McGinn and Watkins are all thriving in claret and blue.

One player who has joined that list is Ezri Konsa, the centre-back who was captured by Dean Smith following their promotion to the Premier League in 2019 and is now on the verge of a deserved England call-up.

How much did Aston Villa pay for Ezri Konsa?

Thomas Frank arrived at Brentford with the mission of playing an easy-on-the-eye style that required his defenders to be exceptional with the ball at their feet, and Konsa ticked that box.

The ball-playing centre-back, who was captured by the Bees from Charlton as a 20-year-old in 2018, quickly established himself as the next second-tier prodigy waiting to be snapped up by the prying hands of Premier League clubs.

During his first Championship campaign, Konsa featured in all but four matches and his sensational performances – the like that saw Arsenal and Crystal Palace register an interest in January 2019 – saw his manager salivate over his talents and the ceiling of his potential.

Frank said: “I think Ezri Konsa is a very good, talented player. I think he’ll become very good. I understand that there’s interest in him but I think he’ll learn a lot from one more year in the Championship because there’s a lot of things to develop."

Despite urging the youngster to stay put for one more year, Aston Villa's promotion to the Premier League in 2019 presented them with the financial muscle to prise talent to Villa Park, capturing Konsa for a fee of £12m.

How much is Ezri Konsa worth now?

At the time of writing, FootballTranfers rates his expected transfer value (xTV) at €32.8m (£29m), meaning that his value has soared by a whopping 141% from the initial fee that the Villans paid for his services four years ago.

This shows that Smith struck gold with the signing of Konsa – who he previously labelled as a "Rolls-Royce" – with his value skyrocketing over the past four years, maturing into a quality defender whose performances have passed the eye test while his elegance in possession and durability without it have emphasised why comparisons were drawn to a Rolls-Royce.

According to FBref, when comparing him to his positional peers across Europe's top five leagues in the past year, he ranks in the top 11% for pass completion (90%) and top 14% for the percentage of dribblers tackled (70.4%), so not only is he a destroyer of attackers but also a reliable distributor of the ball.

Konsa's domineering displays at the heart of Villa's defence have left Smith baffled as to why he hasn't been called up to the national team squad by Gareth Southgate, having recorded a better pass completion (92%) than any other England centre-back, recovered 3.4 balls per game, made 1.8 tackles and won 78% of his duels, as per Sofascore.

The 25-year-old colossus – who was dubbed by teammate Matty Cash as an "incredible player" – has certainly performed to that standard with relentless consistency.

He has featured in every Premier League minute so far under Emery and although his focus remains on helping Villa challenge for silverware, it seems only a matter of time before Southgate realises that Konsa's incremental qualities fit into the Three Lions all-encompassing style.

يستعد نادي ليفربول الإنجليزي للموسم الجديد تحت قيادة المدير الفني الهولندي آرني سلوت الذي تولى المسؤولية خلفًا للألماني يورجن كلوب.

وترك كلوب منصبه كمدير فني لليفربول بعد تسع سنوات قضاها الألماني مع الريدز في “آنفيلد”.

ولا يزال لدى ليفربول 11 لاعبًا دوليًا يتنافسون في بطولة كأس أمم أوروبا 2024 وكوبا أمريكا.

ويعرف سلوت بالفعل أنه سيكون بدون جميع اللاعبين الدوليين الـ11 عندما يسافرون إلى بيتسبرج لبدء جولتهم التحضيرية للموسم الجديد في الولايات المتحدة يوم 23 يوليو الجاري.

وستكون المواجهة الأولى التحضيرية لليفربول مع ريال بيتيس يوم السبت 27 يوليو، وستكون هذه المباراة بمثابة المباراة الأولى لآرني سلوت كمدرب للفريق الإنجليزي.

والمباريات الودية التالية ضد آرسنال في 1 أغسطس القادم، ومانشستر يونايتد يوم 4 من الشهر ذاته.

سيغيب عن ليفربول لاعبين آمثال فيرجيل فان دايك، وترينت ألكسندر أرنولد، ولويس دياز، وأليكسيس ماك أليستر لارتباطهم مع منتخبات بلادهم.

اقرأ أيضًا | إيكو توضح هل انزعج محمد صلاح من ليفربول بسبب أولمبياد باريس؟

وكشفت “ليفربول إيكو”، عن التشكيل الذي يمكن أن يختاره سلوت لمباراته الودية الأولى ضد ريال بيتيس.

سيتواجد كيليهر في حراسة المرمى، وفي حين أن مستقبل الأيرلندي لا يزال غير مؤكد، فمن المحتمل ألا يعود أليسون بعد للموسم التحضيري.

وسيبدأ كونور برادلي في مركز الظهير الأيمن وسيضطر لاعب ليفربول الشاب فان دن بيرج إلى الانتظار حتى يتم تحديد مستقبله، ويمكن أن يبدأ جنبًا إلى جنب مع جاريل كوانساه ضد ريال بيتيس مع غياب فان دايك وكوناتي وجو جوميز.

ويمكن أن يبدأ نات فيليبس، على الرغم من أنه من المتوقع أن يغادر أيضًا هذا الصيف.

وسيعود آندي روبرتسون إلى الموسم التحضيري، بعد خروجه من دور المجموعات في بطولة أمم أوروبا 2024 مع اسكتلندا، وبالتالي، سيكون جاهزًا للمشاركة ويحصل على شارة القيادة أيضًا.

في خط الوسط سيتواجد واتارو إندو إلى جانب كورتيس جونز، ويمكن الاعتماد على فابيو كارفاليو.

ويعد هارفي إليوت ودومينيك سوبوسلاي من الخيارات للبدء على كلا الجانبين.

وسيكون محمد صلاح اللاعب الوحيد من بين خمسة مهاجمين كبار في فريق ليفربول الذي سيكون متاحًا لمواجهة ريال بيتيس.

مع محدودية الخيارات الهجومية المتاحة، سيمنح سلوت، دور جديد للاعب المصري، كلاعب رقم 10.

ومع ذلك، يمكن لـ سلوت أن يضعه على اليمين إذا رغب في ذلك، مع وضع إليوت بعد ذلك في المركز رقم 10 وتمركز كارفاليو كمهاجم وهمي. تشكيل ليفربول المتوقع أمام ريال بيتيس

حراسة المرمى: كيليهر.

الدفاع: برادلي، فان دن بيرج، كوانساه، روبرتسون.

الوسط: إندو، جونز.

الوسط المهاجم: إليوت، كارفاليو، سوبوسلاي.

الهجوم: محمد صلاح.

Crystal Palace look to be planning for life after Roy Hodgson, and one exciting young manager has popped up as a potential option to succeed the 76-year-old at Selhurst Park, as per reports.

What's the latest news involving Crystal Palace?

The Eagles claimed a major scalp last weekend at Old Trafford by defeating Manchester United 1-0 in front of their own supporters, courtesy of a magnificent volley from Denmark international Joachim Andersen in the 25th minute.

Unsurprisingly, Crystal Palace boss Hodgson was delighted after his side secured all three points against the Red Devils, as he stated to Match of The Day, via The Mirror: "The way the players went about the game today is really praiseworthy and has given me enormous pleasure. They have to be so disciplined and so organised. It would be asking too much to come here and dominate. Joachim Andersen is a wonderful technician. It was only a half chance. He had to quickly get his feet right and have the confidence to put his foot through the ball. I'm trying to push him forward for goal of the week!"

Football Insider report that Crystal Palace defender Andersen is being heavily courted by Premier League side Newcastle United ahead of the January transfer window. Eddie Howe's men submitted a late bid for the former Fulham man in the summer; however, Crystal Palace rejected their advances despite the Magpies being long-time admirers of his defensive work.

Cited by The Evening Standard, Andersen has indicated that he is keen to get on the scoresheet more often for Crystal Palace, stating in the aftermath of the triumph over Manchester United: "It was unbelievable to win at Old Trafford. That goal is something I’ll remember. It’s something that I need to improve on. I need to score more goals because I’m capable of scoring goals. I have the desire to score. I think I have a pretty good strike actually. I hit it really well. Amazing goal!"

Who could Crystal Palace hire to succeed Roy Hodgson?

According to journalist Alan Nixon on Patreon, Crystal Palace are considering a move for Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna following his excellent stint in the dugout at Portman Road so far.

McKenna is not the only name being lined up by Crystal Palace chiefs, with Lille boss Paulo Fonseca also believed to be on a list of potential candidates to replace Hodgson at Selhurst Park.

The Irishman has won ten of his 12 matches presided over in all competitions this term, drawing one and losing one, leaving him with a win percentage of around 83% in 2023/24, as per Transfermarkt.

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, pundit Gary Lineker claimed that McKenna was one of the best managers active in England outside of the Premier League at present.

Responding to a question asking which manager could be plucked out of the Football League by a top-flight side, the pundit stated: "I’m going to go with Kieran McKenna from Ipswich Town. I think he’s done a brilliant job with them. He’s young, he was a youth coach at Manchester United, and was at Tottenham a bit before that."

Former Newcastle United icon Alan Shearer agreed with his suggestion, adding: "I would agree with you there, he’s doing a great job." Undoubtedly, McKenna is a talented coach and it looks as if it will only be a matter of time before Premier League clubs start to circle for him.

Bans for Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft won’t truly hit home until they are forced to watch their Australian team-mates play Test matches on home soil this summer, the Cricket Australia Board director Mark Taylor said.Smith, Warner and Bancroft made their returns to competitive cricket via the modest avenues of second tier Twenty20 tournaments in Canada and the Northern Territory over the weekend, and all spoke about experiencing a mess of emotions over the three months since they were suspended by CA for their roles in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal.However Taylor stated bluntly that the full ramifications of their bans would not be felt until the home season, when all will miss a four-Test series against India in December and January, with two Tests against Sri Lanka to follow. Taylor, part of the CA Board that deliberated on their penalties, described the sanctions as “extremely harsh but extremely fair”.”The next nine months are going to be extremely tough for him [Smith], for David Warner and for Cameron Bancroft, because they’re going to have to watch more of the Australian side right through the summer, here in Australia,” Taylor told . “That will really hurt. It hurt Steve Smith watching them play in England and lose, when they [the team] are playing in Australia it’s going to be really tough for them [the banned trio] when they’re not playing.”But in the long run I think it’s good for all three of them. He made a bad mistake, as did the other two guys, three or four months ago, and he’s paying a very high price for it. I think the penalty they’ve received is very harsh but very fair, and I think we’ve now set a tone for world cricket that we’re not going to allow this sort of cheating to go on.”Following Smith’s comments about mental fatigue leading him to make “horrible decisions”, questions have been raised about whether CA was attentive enough to the draining effects of the home Ashes series that preceded South Africa. Taylor said there had been attempts to confront the team about player behaviour after the first Test of the series in Durban.”Sometimes you’ve almost got to hit rock bottom to get better,” Taylor said. “After the Ashes in Australia where they won 4-0, they won the T20 competition in New Zealand, I think everyone thought they were going wonderfully well. There were obviously things going on in the back of the brain which weren’t great for Steve, Dave and for Cam, particularly for Steve and David our captain and vice-captain. Unfortunately it led to them tampering with the ball and Steve not doing enough about the tampering with the ball.”They were talked to about it – Pat Howard went from Australia to South Africa to talk to the team about that sort of behaviour, we need to tone things down. But it still doesn’t stop that one moment where two guys in the changeroom say we’re going to do something about changing the condition of the ball. It’s obviously become a huge story but it comes down to one moment.”The other thing they could have done, Darren Lehmann, Pat Howard and the selectors could have said ‘we’ll just leave those three guys out of that next Test match, just drop them, leave them out because we think they’re mentally not right’. How would that have gone down? You’d be sitting here saying ‘what are they doing, that’s our captain, vice-captain and opening batsman’.”Nevertheless, Taylor recognised the fact that the weight of the Australian captaincy had eventually brought down Smith and each of his two predecessors, Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, as all wrestled with the dual burdens of being the team’s leader and also most accomplished batsman.”I think we’ve had trouble with that in recent times, we saw that with Ricky Ponting towards the end of his playing days, when the captain is that good a player,” he said. “I was lucky, I wasn’t that good, but they feel at times, Steve was definitely the case, Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, all a bit the same, feel they have to make the bulk of the runs as well.”They’ve obviously got to keep a spot in the side, but really you’re just one of 11 batsmen in the side. I think that position of Australian captain is so closely scrutinised, if you also think you have to be the best player and the best leader it’s a big load to carry.”

MatériaMais Notícias

Uma cena inusitada ocorreu durante o primeiro tempo de Atlético-GO x Corinthians, quando Otero trombou com um adversário e as imagens da transmissão do SporTV/Premiere mostraram que o corintiano perdeu alguns dentes. Segundo a reportagem da emissora, o camisa 11 deve ter um prejuízo.

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Aos 13 minutos da primeira etapa, em uma jogada na lateral esquerda ofensiva, Otero tentava se desvencilhar da marcação adversária e sofreu uma falta, quando caiu, acabou batendo o rosto na perna do rival e em seguida a TV algumas coisas não identificadas que saíram da boca do venezuelano.

Pouco depois, a transmissão mostrou o árbitro Jean Pierre Gonçalves Lima indo até a lateral do campo para entregar alguma coisa para o quarto árbitro. Ao dar o zoom na imagem, ficou nítido que eram as lentes de contato dos dentes de Otero. No que pôde ser visto, aparentavam ser quatro peças perdidas.

A reportagem do canal Premiere consultou a assessoria de imprensa do Corinthians, que informou que estava tudo bem com o jogador, e que ele não havia perdido dentes, mas sim lentes. Acontece que cada uma dessas lentes custa cerca de R$ 2 mil, o que deve causar um baita prejuízo para Otero, que saiu de campo aos 18 minutos do segundo tempo. A mudança não teve ligação com a questão dos dentes. A partida acabou empatada em 1 a 1.

The allrounder has admitted his apparent snub to Sarfraz Ahmed following Pakistan’s victory appeared to be an “unsportsmanlike” gesture, though he maintained it was a “genuine oversight”

Daniel Brettig09-Jul-2018Glenn Maxwell, the Australia allrounder, has admitted his apparent snub to Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed following Pakistan’s victory in the triangular series final in Harare appeared to be an “unsportsmanlike” gesture, though he maintained it was a “genuine oversight”.Television cameras captured the moments after Pakistan secured their six-wicket victory, which showed Maxwell congratulating Shoaib Malik then also shaking hands with Jhye Richardson and the umpires but seemingly ignoring the outstretched hand of Sarfraz on his right. After numerous media reports froze the moment in time and questioned Maxwell’s intentions, the Victorian delivered his version of events on Twitter.”Congrats to Pakistan on their win yesterday, Fakhar Zaman and Shoaib Malik were unstoppable! Sad note to end our tour of Zimbabwe, but still plenty of positives to take out of it,” he wrote. “In regards to the incident shown post match, it appears unsportsmanlike, and certainly not the way I play the game.”It was a genuine oversight on my behalf and I’m currently looking for Sarfraz in the hotel to shake his hand and congratulate him and his team for their series win #wellplayed.”It is believed that Maxwell and Sarfraz were involved in numerous verbal exchanges during the course of Pakistan’s victory, namely when the captain was batting during a successful chase. More contentiously, there is also the suggestion that the pair exchanged words after the game had been completed and Sarfraz ran onto the field, in advance of his team-mates, to celebrate with the unbeaten batsmen.Since the Newlands ball-tampering scandal in March, the image and conduct of the Australian team has been a source of enormous debate both within Australia and around the world. Cricket Australia has commissioned two separate reviews, both of the men’s team and the culture of CA more generally, to investigate.In the aftermath of Cape Town and the bans imposed on Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, the new captain Tim Paine instigated a custom – borrowed from football – of ensuring players on both sides shook hands before as well as after a match.This was done both at the start of the final South Africa Test in Johannesburg and then the beginning of the five-match ODI series in England. However, it did not feature when Australia, led this time by Aaron Finch, began the Twenty20 triangular series in Zimbabwe with a match against Pakistan.The coach Justin Langer has spoken of the clear difference between “banter” and “abuse”, with Paine’s line to the England opener Jason Roy during the Old Trafford ODI – “you think you’ve won the World Cup already, don’t ya?” – touted as an example. At the recent ICC annual conference in Dublin, the game’s governing body introduced new code of conduct offences for swearing, personal abuse and cheating.”Everyone talks about this word ‘sledging’, but there’s a difference between banter and abuse,” Langer said in London last month. “Abuse is no good – it doesn’t matter if you’re off the field or on the field, there’s no room for it ever. But there’s plenty of room for banter, or what we call sledging. It’s a fun part of the game!”If I’m playing with my daughter, she wants to beat me big time, so we have a bit of banter, or what we call sledging. She’s pretty good at it, all Australians are good at it, we take it so seriously, but that’s okay. I never abuse her, and if she abuses me … there’s trouble you know!”Sarfraz has his own history of sharp words on the field, being heard telling the New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill to “f*** off” when he interjected into a discussion between Sarfraz and the umpires about the shape of the ball during a T20I in Mount Maunganui in January.

On a day where he took his maiden international wicket, Afridi also confessed that the conditions in Harare were the coldest he’s ever played in

Liam Brickhill in Harare05-Jul-2018

Shaheen Shah Afridi took three wickets against Australia•AFP

Left-arm quick Shaheen Shah Afridi revelled in his first international wickets for Pakistan, braving winter temperatures that dipped as low as 13°C to take the wickets of Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell and D’Arcy Short during his team’s 45-run win over Australia in Harare.”This is by far the coldest day of cricket I’ve ever played,” said Afridi, who found his way into Pakistan’s T20I squad after turning heads with some remarkable performances in the Pakistan Super League, played today in place of the rested Hasan Ali, and now has found his way into the wickets column.With the ball hooping through the air and jagging off the pitch, Afridi found the inside edge of Finch’s bat and then beat Maxwell with one that dipped and curved into his pads. “Since yesterday I’ve been planning on getting these two wickets and trying to work out how to get them out early,” said Afridi.He also added the dismissal of Short, flattening the left-hander’s leg stump as Australia’s chase completely lost its way. With the rest of the attack also chipping in with wickets and the match never out of Pakistan’s control, this was a far improved performance and Afridi said that captain Sarfraz Ahmed – who had some harsh words for his team despite their win yesterday – was much happier with them.”He’s definitely happy with the bowling attack today,” said Afridi. “He’s the captain, and sometimes that happens when he’s unhappy, but today he was much happier with our performance.”Where Australia had gone for the aggressive tactic of banging the ball in short this morning, Pakistan’s attack pitched it up more often than not to utilize the swing and seam on offer. “I think they didn’t take advantage of the pitch,” said Afridi. “The ball was seaming around a lot, and that’s why we pitched it up.”At just 18, Afridi is at the very beginning of his professional sporting career but his performances to date have already drawn comparisons to a young Mitchell Starc from Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur. He took 8 for 39 in his first ever Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match – the best ever by a Pakistani on first-class debut, and then claimed the best ever figures in PSL history with his 5 for 4 against the Multan Sultans earlier this year. During the same tournament, he shrugged off being hit for six by Shahid Afridi (his namesake, but no direct relation) to knock the T20 legend’s stumps down with his very next ball. It is no wonder, then, that he seems to have taken very easily to international cricket.”Shahid Afridi is a very big name, not just in our country but globally,” he said. “He hit me for six first ball in the PSL, but with the next one I got him out. I was very happy about that. After PSL, I don’t think any international match is tough for me. After that, I’m calm playing international cricket.”

Liverpool have deployed club chiefs to watch a centre-back live in action as they weigh up a move in January, but he isn't the only option who FSG are considering bringing to the Premier League.

Do Liverpool need to sign defenders?

The Merseyside outfit have Virgil Van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate and Jarell Quansah as their options at the heart of the backline, but with the former two both 32 years of age, Jurgen Klopp will need to enter the market to search for long-term replacements for when the time comes that the veterans hang up their boots.

The Reds have already been assessing their options ahead of January and have so far earmarked Bayer Leverkusen’s Piero Hincapie, Benfica’s Antonio Silva, Sao Paulo’s Lucas Beraldo and Atalanta’s Giorgio Scalvini as possible targets, but there is also a fifth option to have emerged.

At Sporting CP, Goncalo Inacio has grafted to work his way up through the various academy ranks to get promoted to Ruben Amorim’s first-team, where he’s so far made a total of 132 senior appearances to date (Transfermarkt – Inacio statistics).

Portugal’s international still has another four years remaining on his deal (Sporting CP contracts), but having recently caught the eye during his performances on international duty, the 22-year-old is being monitored by members of the hierarchy at Anfield.

Goncalo Inacio transfer update

According to 90min, who have shared a transfer update on Goncalo Inacio, Liverpool chiefs are keeping extremely close tabs on the defender at Sporting CP having deployed representatives to go and watch him in action earlier this week:

"Liverpool sent scouts to watch defender Goncalo Inacio during Portugal's thumping 5-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, 90min understands.

"This form has been noticed by Liverpool, with sources confirming to 90min that they have been monitoring the progress Inacio has made for well over a year – most recently sending scouts to watch the player during the win away at Bosnia and Herzegovina."

How tall is Goncalo Inacio?

Standing at 6 foot 1, Inacio provides a strong physical presence in the centre of Sporting CP’s backline, which he’s proven so far this season by averaging 2.4 clearances and 1.6 aerial wins per game in Liga Portugal (WhoScored – Inacio statistics).

Amorim’s £28k-per-week earner (Sporting CP salaries), who is naturally left-footed, is also capable of contributing to efforts at the opposite end of the pitch having clocked up 19 final third involvements (11 goals and eight assists) at senior level.

Passing

Player has no significant weaknesses

Likes to dribble

Concentration

(All data via WhoScored)

Likes to play short passes

FSG’s target, who has been dubbed a “leader” by BBC writer Premier League Panel, knows what it takes to compete and be successful at the highest level having secured four trophies during his time with his homeland outfit, so he will possess the exact winning mentality required to achieve at Liverpool.

Real Madrid are taking Jude Bellingham's red card, and subsequent suspension, against Valencia to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Article continues below

Article continues below

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• Bellingham red-carded after final whistle
• Thought he had scored late winner
• Referee insted blew final whistle

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Per The Athletic, Real have appealed to CAS after the Spanish Football Federation rejected an appeal to reduce his two-game ban. Bellingham was sent off after a chaotic final few minutes against Valencia; the ball came into the box and the final whistle blew before the England midfielder headed home. He subsequently told the referee "it's a f*cking goal" and was dismissed.

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• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Bellingham is set to miss Real's games against Celta Vigo this weekend and Osasuna but the club are aware that any CAS ruling will not come in time for him to play. The club have argued that Bellingham did not say anything offensive, but the RFEF rejected that explanation. CAS may not.

• Getty
  

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Bellingham has been in imperious form for Real this season and has made 31 appearances in all competitions, scoring 20 goals and registering nine assists. The 20-year-old is in fine fettle ahead of this summer's European Championships.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Bellingham will have to watch on from the sidelines for Real's next two games. Bellingham could return on March 31 against Athletic Club.

Aston Villa could be set for a surprise departure in January after one player's agent started work behind-the-scenes on trying to find a new club for his client, as per reports.

Aston Villa news: Watkins exit, injury updates, Bailey contract

According to an transfer update on Ollie Watkins from Spain, Arsenal are believed to have the England international in their sights as Mikel Arteta looks to bolster his forward line in the January transfer window.

Nevertheless, any deal involving Watkins departing Villa Park to head to north London would be a difficult one for Arsenal to complete – the report states that the Gunners may need to make a considerable sale to be in a position to pursue the 27-year-old further, after he signed a new contract in the Midlands.

Cited by Birmingham Live, Unai Emery could welcome back Tim Iroegbunam soon enough as an injury update from the outlet details that the youngster came through 60 minutes of the Villans second-string's EFL Trophy loss unscathed.

Robin Olsen meanwhile has missed some of Sweden's training sessions on international duty and wasn't included in their matchday squad for the victory over Moldova last week.

An Aston Villa contract news piece from Football Insider claims that Leon Bailey is set to be offered fresh terms at Villa Park, which would bring some clarity surrounding his future given that his current deal expires in the summer of 2025. Protecting Bailey's value is of paramount importance to Aston Villa and the Jamaica international now looks set to be rewarded for his bright start across the 2023/24 campaign.

Leon Bailey's statistics per season at Aston Villa

2023/24 – Appearances: 11

Goals: 4

Assists: 2

2022/23 – Appearances: 36

Goals: 5

Assists: 4

2021/22 – Appearances: 18

Goals: 1

Assists: 2

All statistics from Transfermarkt

Aston Villa transfer update – Youri Tielemans latest

According to a Youri Tielemans transfer update from Turkey, via Sport Witness, the Belgium international's agent has again been in contact with Galatasaray regarding his client's availability after originally meeting with the Turkish giants in the summer to discuss a potential move.

In the end, Tielemans opted to join Aston Villa from Leicester City on a free transfer; however, his time in the West Midlands has been frustrating, to say the least. He is still yet to start in a Premier League fixture for the Villans; meanwhile, Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk is very keen to bring Tielemans to Istanbul and has repeatedly urged his club's hierarchy to sign the midfielder.

In total, the 26-year-old has managed 13 appearances in all competitions for Aston Villa, though has yet to set the heather alight with his level of performance (Tielemans statistics). This is evidenced by the fact that he has achieved a WhoScored average match rating of just 6.10/10 for his displays in the English top-flight, demonstrating that Tielemans has plenty of room for improvement at Villa Park.