ASTON VILLA are preparing a club-record £20million bid to sign Brentford’s 25-goal striker Neal Maupay.
Ambitious club chiefs Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens are willing to flex their financial muscle to reunite the 22-year-old Frenchman with his former mentor and manager Dean Smith, now Villa are back in the Premier League.
If Villa can persuade the Bees to do business the deal will break the previous best £18million Gerard Houllier splashed out to sign Darren Bent from Sunderland eight years ago.
Villa’s billionaire owners are ready to back Smith with hard cash after on-loan hit-man Tammy Abraham made it clear he wants to return to Chelsea and establish himself as a first team regular.
COMPETITION
Abraham scored 26 goals in the Championship and, with Chelsea facing a two-window transfer ban, the 21-year-old believes he will never have a better opportunity to make the breakthrough at Stamford Bridge.
SunSport understands Abraham has informed Smith and assistant head coach, John Terry he is grateful for the improvement they made to his game but he wants to test himself at the highest level he possibly can.
He would never forgive himself if he never pushed to prove he is good enough to become a hit with the London giants – who could have a new manager in charge if Maurizio Sarri is tempted to quit for Juventus.
Fortunately for Villa, Smith is well aware of Maupay’s qualities, having signed him for Brentford, where he helped him become one of the most feared hitmen in the Championship.
Despite Brentford finishing 11th, the 22-year-old racked up 25 goals in the Championship – a total only beaten by Norwich City’s title winning striker Teemu Pukki.
Villa will face stiff competition for Maupay from Burnley, Brighton and newly promoted Sheffield United and Norwich themselves.
However they will hope the Smith factor can help persuade the French-born Argentine striker to move to the Midlands.
He signed Maupay for a bargain £1.6million from Saint-Etienne in 2017, beating newly-promoted Brighton to the punch.
They were ready to offer the 22-year-old higher wages than Brentford but Smith’s persuasive powers convinced Maupay his speedy qualities were perfectly suited to the Bees’ fast-raiding game.
Now Smith wants to bring the French Under-21 international to the Premier League with him.
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