Aston Villa are on the verge of completing a deal for Paris Saint-Germain forward Ibrahim Mbaye, with the youngster reportedly poised to undergo a medical ahead of the club's clash with Arsenal on Monday night.
According to The Athletic, Villa have reached an agreement in principle with PSG for the transfer, with the fee understood to be worth €55m (£47m). The move comes after Villa had been strongly linked with AC Milan's Rafael Leao earlier in the window, but interest from Galatasaray in the Portuguese international is said to have pushed Unai Emery's side toward alternative targets.
Even if Mbaye's arrival at Villa Park is confirmed this weekend, he will not be eligible to feature against Arsenal, having missed the Friday midday deadline required for registration ahead of Monday's fixture.
Should the deal go through as expected, Mbaye would become Villa's tenth signing of a remarkably busy summer transfer window, which comes to a close on September 1. The scale of squad turnover has been significant, with the club also losing several key figures during the same period, including Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and Ezri Konsa.
Speaking about the extent of the rebuild, Emery acknowledged the difficulty of balancing continuity with necessary change. "Of course, I want to keep some players like they were helping us to be successful, and how they were understanding everything we needed as mentally, and as players as well with their skills," he said.
The Spanish coach, who has overseen a period of transformation at Villa Park since his appointment, said he understood the nature of squad evolution given his previous managerial experience. "But I accept because I have experiences before in the same situation, and when I arrived here, I knew where I was arriving," Emery explained. "And everything we are doing is really being fantastic. I expect the same. To continue doing special and different ways, with different players, but always thinking it's something special, and something positive."
Emery also addressed the adjustment period that often accompanies heavy squad changes, suggesting that results may take time to align with the standards Villa have set in recent seasons. "Even maybe, we are not performing like we were performing, but the objective is to get progressively in the same way we did, and in the same performance we had," he added.
Looking ahead to the visit of Arsenal, a match that will offer an early test of how the new-look Villa squad is gelling, Emery stressed that patience would be required as his revamped side finds its rhythm. "We will need time. Last year, we showed we will need time. On Monday, we will see it, if we will need more time, or some players they are progressing quick," he said.
The fixture against Arsenal represents a significant early-season examination for Villa, who have undergone one of the most extensive squad overhauls in the Premier League this summer. With Mbaye set to add further firepower to Emery's attacking options once eligible, focus for now turns to how the current group copes against one of the league's title contenders.
Villa's business before the window closes could still see further incomings or departures, but the imminent arrival of Mbaye represents one of the marquee deals of their summer activity, underlining the club's ambition to strengthen despite the exits of several first-team regulars.
Based on reporting from Standard Sport (football).