Aston Villa are hoping to fund a move for Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips by agreeing a number of outgoings in the summer transfer window. There have been questions asked as to whether Steven Gerrard’s side would be able to afford the fee that the Whites would demand for the England midfielder if he expressed his desire to leave.
Following his impressive loan spell so far, Villa will be expected to sign Phillipe Coutinho permanently for around £33m which could leave them short in their pursuit of Phillips. Although, they could look to emulate the tactic Pep Guardiola used to claim that Manchester City’s £100m signing of Jack Grealish only actually cost £40m.
After the Birmingham-born boyhood Villa fan was announced as the most expensive English footballer of all time, his new manager said: "We spent £40m on Jack Grealish. We paid £100m and brought £60m in the last year.
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“When we could spend this amount of money it is because we sell for almost £60m. We were not able [to sign Grealish] in the last year or so but we sell young players from the academy and loan players for £60m."
There are a number of players who Gerrard might look to move on this summer in order to raise the funds for potential signings like Coutinho and Phillips. Our sister site BirminghamLive have claimed that ‘The likes of Keinan Davis, Matt Targett, Anwar El Ghazi, Frederic Guilbert and Trezeguet could all leave the club permanently, possibly raising sales of up to £40million’.
They will be seen by many as quite optimistic expectations given the lack of game time the majority of those have had in the last couple of seasons. Targett is likely to be one who will raise some significant funds though as another of our sister sites, ChronicleLive, have reported that Newcastle have the option to make his loan move permanent for £15m.
Both Keinan Davis and Trezeguet have impressed on their respective loan spells but wouldn’t be able to fetch more than a few million each. However, the potential departure of Douglas Luiz could clear the way for a big-money move for Phillips as the Brazil international is moving into the final 12 months of his contract.
There have been several teams interested in signing him from Villa, but with the Leeds-born midfielder having already once turned down a move to Villa Park, the Whites will be confident of keeping on to their home-grown hero.
