The news this week is going to be dominated by the FA Cup, but as the Premier League season is over it will also be common to read about Aston Villa transfer rumours. We start the week with reports across multiple tabloids that claim Aston Villa have made a bid for Swindon pair Luongo and Gladwin for a combined fee of £3.5 million. It seems as though QPR have matched Villa’s offer for the pair, but Swindon are holding out for a fee of £4 million for the pair.
Both players played a key role for Swindon in their promotion run that ended in a play-off defeat to Preston. It’s also believed that the midfielder’s future will be decided before the weekend. Despite Aston Villa being put up on sale, Randy Lerner has adapted a ‘business as usual’ policy with funds being made available to Sherwood in order to strengthen the squad regardless of Villa’s future.
It’s believed that Sherwood will be aiming to sign players under the age of 25 and will look to ship out a host of players.
Luongo is definitely worth a shot, he is a talented player who has been able to play at the top level for Australia. Gladwin I must admit is a new name so I can’t give too much of a verdict on Gladwin. Some tabloids are saying that Villa’s interest is starting too cool, but it’s just too early to say. Sherwood knows Luongo well and has definitely been following the progression of Luongo’s career at Swindon and for Australia. Some Villa fans did point out that the pair struggled to impress during Swindon’s play-off game and questioned whether or not they were ready for the step up to the Premier League. Westwood successfully did that, and I’d argue that Lowton had as well, so I see no reason why the pair can’t do the same. But since both are midfielders, who will leave Aston Villa? I can’t necessarily give any names since I strongly believe that Sherwood genuinely rates Westwood, Delph and Cleverly. Perhaps a plan B should Sherwood fail to land Cleverly?
Additionally, young Reading winger Tarique Fosu has also been linked with a move to Villa Park. The 19-year old winger is considered as a player ‘for the future’ with him making his Reading debut during their final game of the season against Derby. Newcastle are also interested.
“The first team is where I want to be. So I just have to keep my feet on the ground, keep working hard, keep pushing on and hopefully I’ll get further chances.” – Fosu
I highly doubt this move will happen, if I was Fosu I’d try to get into the Reading team because it it would be much more difficult to get into the Villa team. But he must be doing something right since he is linked with both Aston Villa and Newcastle.