Aston Villa are now pushing to sign Leeds United winger Wilfried Gnonto amid reports of an agreement with Everton.
That is according to Calcio Mercato journalist Alessio Lento, who reports Unai Emery has ‘no intention of letting go’ in their pursuit of Gnonto as Everton continue to ‘insist’ on his signing.
As per Sport Italia late last night, Everton have agreed a fee of £18.8 million with Leeds for Gnonto, with a transfer now reportedly ‘very close’.
Reports from the Italian press have continued to insist throughout the summer that Gnonto wants to return to the Premier League and Everton have frequently been mentioned as a potential destination.
However, if Villa are to seriously enter the race, that could throw a spanner to the works of Everton’s plans with Emery’s side able to offer him European football.
Villa push for Gnonto amid £18.8m agreement with Everton
Gnonto is due to return for pre-season at Leeds next week after being granted an extra week off alongside Crysencio Summerville, Illan Meslier and Rodrigo following their international commitments.
Each of those four players have strongly been linked with exits this summer and given six of Leeds’ internationals also returned on Monday, there may be a deeper reason behind them not having yet returned.
As for Gnonto, he is a player San Francisco 49ers Enterprises are publicly keen to keep this summer and so news of this agreement is a surprise.
Gnonto has four years left on his deal at Leeds and with no relegation release clause, the Whites are in a good position to sell for a premium price.
If Leeds have indeed accepted £18.8 million then once again they have undervalued an asset and lost out on a considerable transfer fee.
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