Aston Villa are making good progress in their hunt to sign Gent goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic, three years after originally trying to snap up the Croatia international, according to Birmingham Mail reporter Gregg Evans.
The reliable journalist claimed via his personal Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon that Villa can be expected to sign the 6ft 7 (transfermarkt) colossus in the upcoming January transfer window.
#avfc want to sign Lovre Kalinic from Gent. Yes, the man they missed out on THREE years ago. Good progress has been made. Expect this to happen.
— Gregg Evans (@greggevans40) December 19, 2018
It is understood that Villa missed out on signing Kalinic three years ago while he was at Hajduk Split.
Good move for Aston Villa?
Anyone is better than Orjan Nyland, so this is going to be a good signing by Dean Smith and it will hopefully bolster up what has been a fairly poor defence this season.
Kalinic is capped 16 times for World Cup runners-up Croatia and played for his nation in recent Nations League games against England and Spain.
The 28-year-old is certainly an upgrade on Nyland, who has been terrible for Aston Villa since joining the club in the summer.
Villa fans should be very pleased about this deal.
This is Futbol rating 8/10
Likely to happen?
Judging by Gregg Evans’ claim, Villa can be expected to sign Kalinic next month, but there are still a couple of weeks to go until the January window opens and that means that there is still time for things to go wrong.
Villa have missed out on the goalkeeper once already, there is definitely a chance that it could happen again.
This is Futbol rating 7/10