EXCLUSIVE: Aston Villa reach agreement over €10m January transfer for Serie A attacker but one stumbling block still persists with player unsure over Villa move
Aston Villa have ‘reached an agreement’ with Hellas Verona for the transfer of winger Cyril Ngonge, according to reports in Italy.
The 23-year-old has been with the Serie A side since joining on a free transfer in January last year. His performances since then have caught the eye with the winger scoring five goals and providing two assists in 17 Serie A appearances so far this season.
Unai Emery is keen to ass to his attacking options in the current window and according to TuttoMercatoWeb, Villa have made their move for the player and offered a price of €10 million (£8.7m) which has been ‘verbally accepted’ by Verona. It is now down to the player to decide whether to make the move or not, and that is where the problem could lie.
The report adds that Belgian, Ngonge is enjoying his time in Italy and in Serie A and would therefore prefer to stay in the Italian league. With the player unsure about a transfer to Aston Villa especially given that the high competition for places at the English club. That could benefit Fiorentina who have also been linked with an interest in the player.
Speaking before the transfer window, Verona sporting director Sean Sogliano didn’t rule out a sale of the winger in the January window. He’s an important player, every match is an exam and it will be increasingly difficult,” he said.
“We all know what the situation of our club is, we want to save ourselves but also looking at the administrative point of view, to the needs that exist. We have to think about scoring as many points as possible until the transfer window, then we’ll see what happens.”
Verona currently sit just outside of the relegation places in Serie A but are only out of the bottom three on goal difference. A big 2-0 win over Cagliari just before Christmas, a game in which Ngonge scored, was followed by a damaging 1-0 loss against bottom side Salernitana in their last outing.
