Having seen a bid for his services rejected by Brighton and Hove Albion in January, Aston Villa are getting ready to continue their pursuit of Yves Bissouma at the end of the season, according to The Telegraph.
The 25-year-old midfielder, quite capable of sitting deep and providing protection to the back line even though he prefers a more dynamic, box-to-box role, has been attracting attention for a while now. Last summer, he was heavily linked with Liverpool and Arsenal, who were expected to sign replacements for Georginio Wijnaldum and Granit Xhaka respectively, but in the end, the Merseysiders didn’t sign anyone with manager Jurgen Klopp keen to give 18-year-old Harvey Elliott a chance, while Xhaka stayed with the Gunners. Bissouma was also reportedly of interest to Manchester United through the months that followed, as the 20-time English champions failed to make any progress over West Ham’s Declan Rice.
In the end, it was Aston Villa who made the first concrete move for the 18-cap Mali international, and manager Steven Gerrard has confirmed that his club had submitted an offer last month which was rejected by Brighton. Gerrard also said he was extremely happy with the support he’s been getting from the board, having managed to sign the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Digne and Calum Chambers.
The offer Gerrard mentioned apparently stood at £25 million, but it seems the Seagulls value Bissouma, who’s made a total of 112 appearances in all competitions for the club since arriving from LOSC Lille in 2018, significantly more than that.
