Aston Villa transfer development as Milan hold talks over £12.9m target

Aston Villa are facing competition from AC Milan for the signature of Hellas Verona forward Cyril Ngonge.

Italian outlet Tutto Mercato says that Milan plan to hold talks with Hellas Verona over the coming days. The club are in discussions to discuss the feasibility of the deal and would move ahead of Fiorentina in the race for Ngonge. 

The same paper said that Villa had a £8.7m offer accepted for Ngonge. It is understood that the bid has not reached an accepted stage, however an offer does remain on the table.

In an alternative report from Corriere dello Sport they suggest that a bid of £12.9m would be enough to secure the deal. 

Ngonge’s stance on a move to Villa is that he isn’t against the move however there is a feeling that he could play more games in Serie A. The report from Corriere dello Sport believes that Serie A is more suited to his game.

To date, Ngonge has got five goals and two assists in 18 league games this season. He is 23-years-old and is under contract until the summer of 2026. He is a right-sided winger and would provide competition to Leon Bailey.

Aston Villa transfer latest

Villa have been linked with several players since the opening of the January transfer window. Players in various positions have been linked such as centre-back Ronnie Edwards, and also left-back Leonardo Spinazzola from Roma.

The winter transfer window is hard to navigate and there's a realistic possibility that not much business will be done in terms of incomings to Villa. Unai Emery revealed his stance earlier this month: In January we are speaking about the possibility but last year was similar, it is not an easy window.

"Last year for example we were thinking about a lot of things in January but the most important thing we did was to reduce the numbers of the squad.

"I want to increase the level in our squad with our current players. Some are doing it, some are getting better, some are playing less but I believe in every player in this squad.

"Of course, if we can improve our squad in any position with one player to increase our level we are going to do it."

What Emery might be hinting at is that if an opportunity arises, then they will try and take it. In the case of Ngonge, he is seemingly in favour of staying in Italy, and so it would take a lot of persuasion to change his stance.