Aston Villa tipped to sign £18m Celtic duo in stunning January raid

Former midfielder Stiliyan Petrov, who made a combined 523 appearances across lengthy spells at Villa and Celtic, believes transfer dealings should take place between the two teams in January.

Although the Villans are already succeeding in the Premier League and Champions League, Petrov reckons some extra firepower wouldn’t go amiss. Maeda and Kyogo, who have directly contributed to four and five goals respectively in Celtic’s opening seven Scottish Premiership matches this season, are two players Petrov thinks would suit Villa to a T.

Asked who Unai Emery should be looking at from Celtic, Petrov told Gambling.com: "There's not one, there's quite a few. Listen, Celtic at the moment are performing really well, but I would like to see probably two players, Maeda or Kyogo.

“Maeda with his pace, his energy, his ability to push full backs and to press, it's incredible. Probably one of the best I’ve seen in football. And Kyogo is just a classy player, a great striker with so much ability, really clever and the main thing is he scores goals.”

It’s unlikely that either forward would make it into Villa’s starting lineup at present as the likes of Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers and Jhon Duran are flying. That said, extra legs and goals probably wouldn’t be sniffed at by Emery, especially as the fixture list will be busier than ever with the new UEFA Champions League format.

Maeda, 26 and Kyogo, 29, have a current combined transfer value of €21.5 million (£18 million) as per Transfermarkt.