Aston Villa are hoping to complete a remarkable triple midfield swoop this week after agreeing terms with Wolves for Joao Gomes and opening talks to sign Joao Palhinha from Bayern Munich, TEAMtalk understands.
The prospective arrivals of Gomes and Palhinha would add to that of Swiss midfielder Johan Manzambi, who is due to arrive from Freiburg this week.
Villa sources have confirmed that Gomes and Manzambi are due to complete medicals before the weekend, while the club are hopeful Palhinha will not be far behind.
Villa have agreed to pay a club-record fee of over £50million for Manzambi, while the deal with Wolves for Gomes is worth around £35million.
The Midlands club are now hoping they can secure Palhinha for around £20million from Bayern Munich.
A possible move to Portugal is not currently mapping out for the midfielder, with Porto, Benfica and former club Sporting all struggling to come up with the finances required to complete a deal.
Villa needed to bolster their midfield after losing Amadou Onana to a season-ending knee injury at the World Cup finals, a setback that was compounded by Youri Tielemans’ decision to sign for Manchester United.
However, Villa are backing Unai Emery in the transfer market and a potential £105million outlay on Manzambi, Gomes and Palhinha is now in the offing.
READ NEXT– Man City transfer decision sparks £40m battle between Leeds, Aston Villa as star eyes Etihad exit
Aston Villa closing on statement triple swoop
If all three deals are completed, Villa would significantly strengthen their midfield options ahead of the new campaign, with Gomes and Palhinha adding Premier League and European pedigree alongside the highly-rated Manzambi.
Gomes, 25, remains highly rated despite Wolves’ struggles, and last season he was one of the club’s standout performers once again.
The midfielder has plenty of experience at the highest level and has earnt 10 caps for Brazil, though missed out on a spot in the World Cup squad.
Palhinha, 31, would represent a smart defensive midfield signing. He put in some solid performances while on loan at Tottenham last term, but the London side ultimately decided against signing him permanently.
The Portuguese spent two impressive years with Fulham from 2022 to 2024 before making a £47million switch to Bayern, where he failed to cement a spot in the starting XI.
As for Manzambi, Villa fought hard to win the race for his signature after hijacking Newcastle’s move for the talented 20-year-old.
With 16 caps for Switzerland to his name already and valuable Bundesliga experience with Freiburg under his belt, the centre-mid looks to have an exciting future ahead of him.
Want more breaking news and transfer lines from original sources? Add TEAMtalk as a preferred source on Googleto your favourites list for news you can trust.