Aston Villa to join January race for Premier League star

According to reports, Aston Villa are interested in signing Brentford attacker Bryan Mbeumo. The 25-year-old, who has scored three goals in the opening three Premier League games this season, is a target for Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest and it is now believed that Villa could look to join those teams in the race to sign Mbeumo.

Villa struggled to move past the PSR restrictions when attempting to sign new players towards the end of the window and therefore didn't have the opportunity to add greater depth to the squad. Following the departure of Moussa Diaby in the summer, Unai Emery is keen to add another player who can play down the right-hand side and as a No.10. Mbeumo, who was reportedly the subject of a failed £25 million from Nottingham Forest in the final days of the summer transfer window, has less than two years left on his contract.

Following the departure of star striker Ivan Toney to the Saudi Pro League on transfer deadline day, the Bees will be keen to keep Mbeumo and will attempt to convince him to extend his contract. However, after impressing last season and starting the new campaign emphatically, it will be difficult to keep the Cameroon international. HITC reports Villa, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, and Newcastle are all keen to sign Mbeumo and all of those potential moves would provide progress up the Premier League table.

According to Birmingham World, Brentford does have the option of extending Mbeumo's current deal by a year so are not in a real rush to sell the player. However, should Mbeumo continue to perform so well then the interest from top clubs will grow stronger and the pressure to move on will increase. Mbeumo signed for Brentford for a (at the time) club-record fee of £5.8 million in 2019 and has scored 53 goals and provided 42 assists in just over 200 appearances for the club.

UTV