Aston Villa are closing in on their tenth signing of the summer after agreeing a deal in principle with Paris Saint-Germain for forward Ibrahim Mbaye, a player previously linked with Liverpool.
The transfer is worth €55m (£47m) and is being finalised, according to The Athletic. Villa are hopeful that the 18-year-old will travel on Saturday to complete a medical ahead of the proposed move.
Villa's busy summer continues
Villa face Arsenal in the Premier League on Monday night, but Mbaye will not make his debut in that match even if he is unveiled over the weekend, as he needed to be registered by 12pm on Friday to be available for selection.
The club have already completed the signing of Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea in a deal worth up to £65m, with Ollie Watkins finalising a £50m move to Al-Hilal. Villa had been heavily linked with AC Milan forward Rafael Leao, but Galatasaray are said to be leading the race for the Portugal international, prompting Unai Emery's side to turn to alternatives.
Emery on squad overhaul
With Mbaye set to become Villa's tenth new arrival of the summer, Emery has discussed the challenges of overhauling a squad following the exits of Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and Ezri Konsa.
He said: "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.
"But I accept because I have experiences before in the same situation, and when I arrived here, I knew where I was arriving.
"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.
"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.
"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."
