Aston Villa now looking to sign £30m player who Newcastle are favourites for

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There has been a lot of speculative talk about Nicolo Zaniolo signing for Newcastle United this summer, and now the Italian actually could be on his way to the Premier League.

However, it is not Newcastle who are making a move for Zaniolo. That is despite a recent story in Turkey claiming that the Magpies are now favourites to sign the Galatasaray star.

Instead, he could soon have the chance to sign for Aston Villa, who are our opponents in the first game of the new Premier League season.

Aston Villa are trying to sign Nicolo Zaniolo

According to Fabrizio Romano, Aston Villa are trying to do a deal to sign Zaniolo from Galatasaray.

He wrote on Twitter: “Understand Aston Villa are working on deal to sign Nicoló Zaniolo. It’s concrete possibility being discussed, one of the top names in the list. Villa director Monchi signed Zaniolo at Roma from Inter and negotiations will follow with Galatasaray. Deal on.”

No mention of Newcastle

Romano believes that a deal for Aston Villa to sign Zaniolo from Galatasaray is ‘on’, and has not mentioned any kind of interest from Newcastle.

That is despite stories stating that Newcastle are the favourites and are ready to launch a bid worth £30million for him.

Those rumours sounded unlikely at the time, and they feel even more unreliable following news of interest from Aston Villa.

Talk of Newcastle going for Zaniolo never came from the British media. It has always been either the Italian or the Turkish press.

That raised doubts, suggesting that Newcastle’s name was merely being news to drum up interest in the 24-year-old. Perhaps it has worked, with Aston Villa now making a move.

With Unai Emery’s side looking to do a deal, we should now find out if Newcastle really are interested in signing Zaniolo. If they are, they are running out of time to strike.

But beyond giving Sandro Tonali a fellow Italian to play alongside, an approach for Zaniolo would be a surprise. That is because Newcastle need defensive reinforcements right now, and are expected to go for a centre-back following the arrival of Tino Livramento.