Aston Villa has begun the 2022-23 Premier League campaign with defensive struggles that the club tried to target this summer when they sealed a move for Sevilla’s highly-coveted Diego Carlos in a £26m deal.
But that plan came crashing down with the 29-year-old Brazilian rupturing his Achilles tendon, causing him to miss all three league fixtures for Steven Gerrard’s Villains who have already surrendered six goals thus far.
However, there could be some semblance of light at the end of the tunnel for Gerrard after reports from France suggest that Paris Saint-Germain’s Senegalese international center-back Abdou Diallo is keen on a move to Villa Park before the conclusion of the summer transfer window.
Aston Villa among Premier League clubs interested in PSG’s Abdou Diallo (26), with the defender keen on a move. (LP)https://t.co/uYgkeJUhrK
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) August 24, 2022
Reports from Le Parisien via Get French Football News detail Diallo’s desire to secure a move away from the Parc des Princes having become nothing more than a depth option for the French champions.
With the 2022 World Cup in Qatar fast approaching, the Senegalese international is keen to get back to regular football in order to ensure his selection for Aliou Cissé’s Lions of Teranga outfit that is set to clash with the Netherlands, Ecuador, and hosts Qatar in Group A starting on a 21 November opener against Oranje with group-defining implications.
Senegal out to break the glass ceiling at Qatar 2022 says Abdou Diallo. Can the Terranga Lions be the first African country to reach semi finals in the World Cup? pic.twitter.com/XTlQiECenh
— Mohammed Awal Hudu (@AwalMoHudu) August 18, 2022
The Tours native and former French youth international logged just 877-minutes in Ligue 1 last season in 12 appearances and has struggled to nail down a first-choice birth in the French capital since his arrival from Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2019 in a €32m move from the Ruhr valley.
Diallo is mooted to cost Villa somewhere in the region of €10m (£8.5m) and would offer an easy catch if the club moves quickly, but the center-back has been linked with interest elsewhere in Europe this summer in the vein of fellow Premier League outfit Tottenham as well as West Ham United and AC Milan.
But with the Hammers securing former PSG clubmate Thilo Kehrer for £10m to address their own issues in the defensive third, Villa will need to strike while the iron is hot if interest elsewhere is not to drum up in the final days of the window.
