Aston Villa ‘set sights’ on eye-catching Premier League striker amid ‘race’ with Man City

Aston Villa are still battling it out for European football as we close in on the end of the Premier League season.

Villa have enjoyed quite the turnaround since Unai Emery’s arrival, and they are now in with a real shot of securing Europa League football for next season. Though, there is still work to do as they prepare to face Manchester United away from home this weekend, arguably the most difficult of an already tough run of fixtures to end the season.

In the meantime, we have rounded up all the latest news surrounding Villa Park.

Toney interest

Villa could be in the market for a striker this season, particularly if they do land European football, and they may be eyeing up one of their Premier League rivals’ frontmen.

According to Football Insider, Emery is keen on landing Brentford star Ivan Toney, who has been excellent for the Bees again this season. Toney remains under contract for two years, and he is likely to cost big, with a number of other teams also being linked ahead of this summer.

It will be interesting to see whether Brentford sell, and indeed what kind of fee Toney commands.

Tierney links

Aston Villa are also being linked with a move for out-of-favour Arsenal full-back Kieran Tierney.

According to Football Insider, Manchester City are lining up a surprise move for the Scotsman, hopeing to add depth to their right-back area amid Joao Cancelo’s likely permanent exit. It’s claimed City are hoping to discover the terms of a possible deal with their title rivals ahead of this summer, but they are not alone.

The report also details that Villa are interested in signging Tierney, and Emery could surely offer greater guarantees of regular first-team football heading into next season, given the competition at City.