Aston Villa tipped for stunning £50m dream transfer raid as Everton chase 20-goal striker

Welcome to Thursday’s round-up of the biggest and boldest Premier League transfer stories currently doing the rounds in the global media, and we’ll start with an update on what would be one of the more jaw-dropping transfers of the summer of the summer – João Félix’s proposed move to Aston Villa.

The Portugal forward set Atlético Madrid back more than £110m just a few short years ago but he never quite lived up to his billing in the Spanish capital. Some impressive performances on loan at Barcelona last season have, however, seen his stock start to rise again, but it looks like Villa are the only club who have been making moves to try and sign him.

Speaking to Caught Offside, Italian transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano has offered an update on what would be a remarkable signing. Apparently his future “remains undecided” but Villa manager Unai Emery “really loves” Félix – and while his next step hasn’t yet been decided we could hear more in the coming days. Villa, for now, “are still there.”

The 3AM Verdict: Félix has had a roller coaster career but there’s no doubt that on he’s day he’s an elite footballer – it’s just that his days haven’t necessarily been arriving on a weekly basis. There’s no word on whether a deal would be permanent or just a loan, or on the finances involved, which makes the size of the gamble hard to measure, but if Villa did pull it off it would look like quite a coup and would certainly be a statement of intent as they enter the Champions League for the first time in four decades.

Seagulls starlet nearing departure

The transfer saga that developed over Brighton & Hove Albion striker Deniz Undav might not have grabbed all that many headlines but it’s been a particularly long-running story this summer nevertheless – and one which will soon come to a conclusion, if Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg has his facts straight.

He claims that after weeks of tortuous negotiations, Brighton and VfB Stuttgart have agreed on a fee of up to €30m (£25.7m) including various “bonus payments”. Undav, who impressed on loan at Stuttgart last season, will sign a three-year contract with the Bundesliga runners-up – which seems a bit short given the size of the outlay, but there you go.

The 3AM Verdict: A lot of Brighton fans wanted to see what Undav could do after he bagged 18 league goals last season and broke into the Germany side, but the player had made it fairly plain that he wanted to go back to Stuttgart and seems set to get his wish. Brighton will pocket a tidy profit, but may wonder what could have been if they’d just held onto him last season and avoided letting his head be turned.

Three clubs chasing former Wolves target

It’s about a year since a deal for Wolverhampton Wanderers to sign Salernitana forward Boulaye Dia fell through at the eleventh hour, but it looks like the Serie A star might get a move to England yet – according to HITC, Everton, Newcastle United and West Ham are all in the mix to sign him before deadline day.

There is no price tag mentioned in the report, which cites various sources in Italy, but apparently there are “a lot of takers” for the 27-year-old Senegalese striker, who bagged 20 top-flight goals in his two seasons since joining from Villarreal. There had been whispers that Wolves could try to sign him again at the beginning of the summer, but that went quiet and this report appears to exclude that as a possibility.

The 3AM Verdict: Dia was excellent in the 2022/23 season but struggled as Salernitana finished rock bottom in the most recent campaign, scoring four goals while playing for an admittedly awful team – and injury didn’t help, either, as he was restricted to just 12 starts all season. A fast and physical striker with good technique, Dia would likely be signed as competition to a first-choice forward rather than the main man but there’s potential for him to do well. Wolves had been expected to pay over £10m for him before that went south last summer.