A report in Portuguese outlet Jornal de Noticias (via Sport Witness) has claimed that Aston Villa are interested in Benfica midfielder Franco Cervi.
The report states that Villa are one of a number of clubs who are interested, with manager Jorge Jesus not expected to play the 26-year-old much next season.
This means that he is available for a transfer fee of €15m (£13.53m), which according to the report, should be easily met by Villa.
However, they will face competition from Celta Vigo, Besiktas, and Alanyaspor.
Would this be a good signing for Villa?
Yes, seems like a good player
No, we could do better
TIF Thoughts…
Cervi made 23 league appearances for Benfica in the 2019/20 season in which he scored two goals and provided one assist.
He mainly played as a left midfielder and made 34 appearances overall for Benfica in the 2019/20 season.
He is valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, so quite a bit less than the valuation that Jesus’ side are looking for.
In terms of comparing him to the rest of the Villa squad, his 6.95 rating would rank him in third place in Villa’s squad only behind John McGinn and Jack Grealish, which suggests that he could do a job for Villa in the league.
WhoScored picked out one of his best attributes as his defensive contribution, so this could help a side like Villa who struggle with defending and many aspects of it, having conceded the second most amount of goals in the Premier League last season.
So, judging by these statistics and attributes, he might be a decent addition for Dean Smith’s side, and this could be a transfer story to keep an eye on as the window progresses, especially if Benfica only want £13.53m (€15m) for him.