Fabrizio Romano casts doubt over Aston Villa’s £43.3m ‘transfer agreement’ amid Saudi Arabian interest

Aston Villa face a serious threat in their reported bid to land Bayer Leverkusen star Moussa Diaby.

Unai Emery and Villa have been bold in the summer transfer window so far, spending big money to land Pau Torres, while Youri Tielemans was also brought in on a free deal. Villa are showing real ambition as they look to make a run at the top four, while also looking to challenge in the Europa Conference League during the coming season.

And that means they are not going to be satisfied with just two signings, needing to strengthen in other areas over the course of the coming weeks.

Leverkusen star Diaby, who has also been linked with Newcastle United, has been heavily linked, and the latest reports suggest a deal North of £43million has now been struck with the German club. But there seems to be intense competition, and not from Newcastle.

According to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, Saud Arabian club Al Nassr are now pushing for a deal, hoping to sway Diaby to the Middle East given the sort of wages they can offer.

Romano tweeted: “Al Nassr have improved their proposal for Moussa Diaby. Negotiations on as Aston Villa also submitted second bid on Tuesday. Al Nassr are pushing to convince the player after his green light to Villa. “

The good news for Villa is that, as things stand, FIFA are holding a transfer ban over Al Nassr over missed payments in their deal to sign Ahmed Musa from Leicester City last year. That ban will be lifted quickly once the outstanding payments are made, but there has been no update of the ban being lifted just yet after last week’s implementation by FIFA.

That could give Villa the advantage they need to get a deal done, but they will have to move quickly given the wages Al Nassr will be offering the winger.