Aston Villa have ‘taken the lead’ over Man Utd to sign £43.5m-rated January target

Aston Villa are weighing up their options ahead of the January transfer window, hoping to continue their fruitful recruitment drive from the summer. After qualifying for European football last season, Unai Emery’s side are an attractive destination and they will be hoping to replicate a similar run, if not better, this time as well.

A few names have been swirling around the Villa rumour mill but a recent report has put them firmly in the running to rival Manchester United for a new right-back. According to Fichajes, the Villans have ‘taken the lead’ to acquire the services of Nahuel Molina from Atlético Madrid.

The Argentinian is attracting a lot of attention right now and Villa are right up there when it comes to those fighting to snap him up. The report states that Emery’s side are ‘one step ahead’ of Premier League rivals Manchester United, who are also in the race for Molina.

However, while Villa are said to be working on a potential January deal, it’s not going to be an easy transfer to wrap up. Molina has an estimated market value of €50 million (£43.5m) and he only signed for Atlético in 2022, so it’s probably going to be tough to convince the La Liga side to part ways with one of their key players.

Molina missed the first game of the season due to injury and spent the following match on the bench, but he has featured in all of the fixtures since then and started five of the seven so far. Despite being a natural right-back, he has also been deployed in a more advanced role at right midfield and has contributed two goals and three assists across all competitions.

Amid the growing interest from clubs abroad, there are talks of Atlético potentially pushing for an early renewal of Molina’s contract, despite his current terms not expiring until 2027.