EXCLUSIVE: Sky Sports confirms Aston Villa have now held talks to sell Brazilian defender Diego Carlos to PL rivals, Player also open to leaving club

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Fulham have held talks with Aston Villa about signing centre-back Diego Carlos, according to Sky Sports News.

The Whites are looking to replace Tosin in defence, who left when his contract expired at the end of the season and moved to Chelsea, and have identified the Brazilian as a target to come in.

Villa are open to a sale with their central defensive options strong ahead of the upcoming season, and there are several clubs interested in a move for the former Sevilla star.

Villa have held talks with Premier League rivals Fulham about a potential deal for the 31-year-old, with the Cottagers looking at bringing in two new defenders before the August 30th deadline.

Unai Emery has already got Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Tyrone Mings as defensive options, while Clement Lenglet has returned to Barcelona after his loan deal expired and Callum Chambers was allowed to leave on a free transfer after being deemed surplus to requirements.

Villa would likely look to bring in a replacement should Carlos move on, but a sale first would make sense as the club have already been busy in the market preparing for Champions League football in the upcoming campaign.

Carlos joined from La Liga club Sevilla two years ago but suffered a serious knee injury in his first campaign before returning and performing well enough to earn huge praise from Gary Neville, who labelled him as “outstanding” and a “man mountain”.

Ross Barkley, Jaden Philogene, Enzo Barranchea, Lewis Dobbin, Amadou Onana, Samuel Iling-Junior, Ian Maatsen and Cameron Archer have all come into the first-team this summer, while Douglas Luiz, Moussa Diaby and Tim Iroegbunam have left permanently with Philippe Coutinho also allowed to move on to Brazil on loan.