'Fee agreed' as Aston Villa, Brighton and Newcastle United race to sign £14.8m wonderkid

PAOK Thessaloniki centre-forward Stefanos Tzimas is the subject of serious interest from several Premier League clubs ahead of the summer transfer window.

The 18-year-old, currently on loan at FC Nurnberg, has enjoyed a scintillating start to the season in the German second tier, scoring eight goals and making two assists in 14 league matches. Tzimas has taken a huge step up in form after netting three times in 15 Greek Super League appearances last campaign.

Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg reports Brighton are monitoring Tzimas closely but are unlikely to make an approach until the next transfer window. Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle, meanwhile, have been credited with an interest.

It was reported last month - also by Sky Germany - that Nurnberg want to sign Tzimas permanently and are expected to activate the €18million (£14.8m) option included in the loan deal, a fee agreed last June. The idea would be to keep the striker for the rest of the season and then sell him on for a profit in the summer.

This is when the likes of Villa, Brighton and Newcastle would come into play as a host of Premier League clubs race in to pry Tzimas away. Nurnberg would of course be gutted to lose their talented forward but their plan has always been to bag a profit and they’d be achieving just that.

Where would Stefanos Tzimas fit in at Aston Villa?

Five times a Greece Under-21 international, Tzimas is considered one of the brightest prospects from his nation. It awaits to be seen how well the forward would fare in one of Europe’s top five leagues but the initial signs are positive.

A strong dribbler despite standing at 6ft 1in, Tzimas is often a threat on the counter-attack. The Greek tends to press high to defend from the front and has proven himself as a clinical finisher with his eight Bundesliga 2 goals coming from just 6.5 expected goals.

It would be difficult for Tzimas to immediately break through into Villa’s starting XI due to the dominance up front from Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran. Morgan Rogers’ emergence just in behind the striker has that position seemingly locked down too, but there could be room for minutes in cup competitions.

That’s exactly how Duran broke onto the scene, after all, as the characterful Colombian - as much as he didn’t want to - had to wait patiently for his opportunity. Duran has since reaped the rewards, scoring 12 goals in just 991 minutes this campaign. There aren’t many better young forwards in Europe.