Aston Villa has been one of the revelations in world football since Unai Emery took over as manager at the beginning of the 2022/23 season.The former Sevilla and Villarreal manager quickly found success in his Premier League comeback, as the Lions qualified for European competition on the final day of the season, capitalizing on Tottenham’s slide.
Villa are now even stronger in 2023/24, with excellent contenders for a Champions League spot, which would have looked impossible before Emery’s appointment.
Aston Villa are not finished there. The club intends to invest considerably more to develop a long-term success project under Emery, relying on the manager’s ability to convert money into points on the table.
Sport BILD reports that Aston Villa are interested in Exequiel Palacios, a center midfielder for Bayer Leverkusen. They are now negotiating with the player and will shortly begin negotiations with Die Werkself. The starting price is forty million euros.
If Villa can sign Palacios for a fee of around 40 million euros, they will be getting a great deal. Leverkusen has a number of highly rated players on the transfer market, the most notable of which are Florian Wirtz and Victor Boniface in the attacking ranks.
But Palacios is as impressive as anyone on Leverkusen, with the exception of Wirtz, and is, in many respects, the team’s beating heart as the anchoring midfielderThe 25-year-old has been one of the top players in world football this season at any position, averaging 2.7 tackles and 1.6 interceptions per game while scoring three goals and assisting three times from a deep midfield position.
Palacios is the unsung star of an undefeated Leverkusen team that appears certain to win the Bundesliga. He is the one who pulls the strings, silences critics, and elevates everyone around him.
It’s incredible that Palacios isn’t listed alongside Rodri and Toni Kroos when discussing the finest center midfielders in European football right now, given that the Argentine international is legitimately playing as good as those players.
Villa’s interest in Palacios is the latest example of Emery and the club’s successful scouting. Aston Villa is focused on the proper players, as evidenced by the additions of Pau Torres and Moussa Diaby (both from Leverkusen).
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