Aston Villa are among a handful of Premier League clubs keeping an eye on an exciting Championship player, according to a new report.

The Villans play their second Champions League game of the season on Wednesday evening as they welcome Bayern Munich to Villa Park, but heading into the game there has been a bit of transfer news that could occur in 2025.

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Posts ByKelan Sarson Oct 2, 2024 Aston Villa transfer news

Unai Emery’s side were very busy during the summer, as they put together a squad that could compete in the league once again as well as in Europe. It has been a good start to the campaign for the Midlands side, but it appears that they could have their eye on more transfer business in 2025.

Villa are said to be keeping a close eye on Atletico Madrid player Samuel Lino, as Emery is keen to improve his options on the left-hand side of his team. The club’s sporting director, Monchi, has been keeping an eye on the player ever since he joined the La Liga side in 2022, and it now seems they are readying their move.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa are also looking to improve their forward line, as they are interested in signing Valencia striker Hugo Duro. They have been left impressed by Duro’s performances in Spain, and are keen to add him to their squad in the near future. Interest in Duro comes as there are still concerns about the future of Jhon Duran despite his excellent form in front of goal.

Aston Villa send scouts to watch two Boro stars

According to TBR Football, Aston Villa had scouts in place to watch Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney and Rav van den Berg against West Brom at The Hawthorns on Tuesday evening. The representatives from Villa were there to look at both West Brom and Boro, but they looked closely at Hackney in particular, who has been very impressive in the Championship this season.

Hackney, who has been labelled as “immense” by his manager Michael Carrick, scored the only goal on Tuesday, and it would be no surprise to see him turning out in the top flight next season. It appears that his form has caught the attention of Villa, who were joined by scouts from Nottingham Forest and Wolves.

Van den Berg meanwhile joined Boro in the summer of 2023, and was an important performer for them last season. The defender has missed the last few games through injury, but made his third start in the league on Tuesday as Boro picked up a huge result.

Rav van den Berg and Hayden Hackney’s Middlesbrough stats

Rav van den Berg

Hayden Hackney

Apps

43

77

Goals

1

7

Assists

0

6

He may be someone that Villa look to bring in as a long-term replacement for Diego Carlos, who put in a struggling performance against Ipswich Town and hasn’t really nailed down a place during his time at Villa Park.

Celtic have enjoyed a sublime start to the Scottish Premiership season with a perfect record of four wins from four matches under Brendan Rodgers.

The Hoops have secured wins over Kilmarnock, Hibernian, St Mirren, and Rangers, along with a win over Hibs in the League Cup last month.

Kasper Schmeichel has kept four clean sheets in his four appearances in the division, having replaced Joe Hart over the summer, having arrived from Anderlecht.

One of Celtic's existing stars has also enjoyed a fantastic start to the 2024/25 campaign, as Daizen Maeda has hit the ground running on the flank.

Daizen Maeda's start to the season

The Japan international has racked up three goals and two assists in four appearances in all competitions so far this season for the Scottish giants.

Two of those three strikes came whilst playing as a centre-forward against Hibernian in the League Cup, whilst the other one was a tidy finish in the 3-0 win over Rangers in the first Old Firm clash of the campaign earlier this month.

The 26-year-old star's sublime campaign so far for Celtic comes off the back of his return of ten goals and four assists in 36 outings in the 2023/24 campaign.

As you can see in the table above, Maeda produced six goals and three assists in 28 Premiership matches last term, which shows that he did not provide quality in the final third on a regular basis.

The Hoops may want to provide him with competition for his place, to ensure that he maintains his current level and does not become complacent, and Rodgers may have his next Maeda already at the club.

Meet Celtic's next Daizen Maeda

18-year-old winger Thomas Hatton, who can play on the left or the right flank, has made great progress with Celtic over the past 12 months or so.

Despite being 17 for the vast majority of the 2023/24 campaign, the teenage starlet made eight appearances in the Lowland League for Celtic B, and contributed with one goal and one assist.

He caught Rodgers' eye and was given a chance to impress in pre-season this summer, with a second-half appearance against Queen's Park, as well as being on the bench against Ayr.

67HailHail noted that Hatton was one of the 'impressive' academy stars who came in and looked at home within the tactical set-up, thanks to his energy and technical qualities.

This suggests that there is a pathway to the first-team for the 18-year-old gem, as he has already shown Rodgers that he can step in and play with the senior squad, albeit in pre-season.

Hatton has also, like Maeda, enjoyed a strong start to the 2024/25 campaign with a return of three goals in seven Lowland League outings for Celtic B.

It is now down to the Scottish forward to continue that form and prove to the manager that he has what it takes to play competitive first-team football for Celtic as a goalscoring left winger, just like the Japan international.

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At the age of 18, there is plenty of time left for Hatton to develop and improve to the point where he can be considered a viable alternative, or even upgrade, to Maeda on the left flank.

Wolverhampton Wanderers and manager Gary O’Neil are reportedly looking at signing an “excellent” free agent right now, according to one journalist.

Wolves suffer Yerson Mosquera injury blow

The Old Gold haven’t had the start to the new Premier League campaign that they would have wanted, failing to win any of their opening five top-flight fixtures. To rub salt into the wound, things went from bad to worse on Saturday during a 3-1 defeat to rivals Aston Villa after defender Yerson Mosquera was forced off through injury. The club has since confirmed that he is unlikely to play again this season.

Mosquera was a regular under O’Neil during the early stages of the campaign, playing every Premier League minute before going off against Villa, with Wolves’ head of high performance Phil Hayward claiming that it is unlikely Mosquera will play again in 24/25 as he requires surgery.

“Yerson has now had all of the various assessments and scans which unfortunately confirm injuries to the medial collateral ligament (MCL) and the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). We will be visiting specialists in the coming days to finalise the plan for surgery; this will take place in the next two weeks. Timescales are difficult to state prior to surgery but it is highly unlikely he will feature again this season.”

Wolves’ injury list

Possible return date (Premier Injuries)

Boubacar Traore

December 26

Toti Gomes

September 29

Enso Gonzalez

No return date

Sasa Kalajdzic

No return date

Bastien Meupiyou

October 20

Yerson Mosquera

June 1

As a result, it looks as if Wolves could turn their attention to the free agent market to replace Mosquera, with one experienced defender being looked at.

Wolves eyeing free agent James Tomkins

According to HITC journalist Graeme Bailey, Wolves are considering a move to bring former West Ham and Crystal Palace centre-back James Tomkins to Molineux.

The 35-year-old is still without a club after leaving Selhurst Park in the summer, and being a right-footed centre-back could slot in to replace Mosquera in the squad over the coming months or possibly for the rest of the season.

Wolves are only able to bring in English-based free agents as there is no space left in O’Neil’s 25-man squad for any non-homegrown players, so Tomkins could be the man to arrive. An experienced defender, Tomkins is also an Olympian after representing Great Britain back in 2012. He came in for praise while at Crystal Palace under Roy Hodgson, who called him “excellent” and a “senior figure” back in 2019.

“He’s been excellent. He was fantastic the other night in a tough game for us. He handled it brilliantly. We have been lucky to have Tomkins and Sakho as our centre backs. He is taking on the role as the senior figure.”

West Ham

243

11

Crystal Palace

136

10

It looks as if a cut-price and short-term move to Wolves for Tomkins could be one to look out for in the coming days and weeks, going off this transfer update from Bailey.

India opener talks about trusting the “process” after recording long-awaited first overseas ton

Nagraj Gollapudi04-Sep-20216:31

‘Spending time in the middle was the biggest takeaway for me in the four Test matches’

He would no doubt agree that his maiden overseas Test century carried a lot of “value”, but the most significant takeaway for Rohit Sharma from the fourth Test, in fact the first four Tests of the Pataudi Trophy, is the fact that he has managed to play out maximum time and maximum balls. That, Rohit said, has been the primary goal and the basis of his success as a Test opener, a journey that started in 2019.The 256 balls Rohit played in the second innings of the Oval Test was the third-most by an India opener this century in England, only behind Rahul Dravid and Murali Vijay. With another Test remaining in the series Rohit can eye the record of the most balls faced in a series by an India opener in England: currently, having faced 856 deliveries, he is third on the all-time list, behind Sunil Gavaskar (1979) and Vijay (2014).”Most pleasing thing was that I was able to play 250 balls,” Rohit said in the media briefing on Saturday. “If you look at all the Test matches [this series] I have nearly played 100 balls in every innings. That to me was a goal. The first goal was to play balls, see how I can stay on the pitch for as long as possible because we do know that things start to get easier when you spend time in the middle, when you see what the bowlers are doing and get the hang of it and get the feel of the entire situation. Spending time in the middle was the biggest takeaway for me in the four Test matches.”Right through this England trip, which started with the World Test Championship final in June against New Zealand, Rohit has looked the most settled India batter, threatening to convert the starts into something big. Rohit already had two half-centuries in seven innings against England, including 83 in the first dig at Lord’s. But he had to swallow his disappointment and applaud his opening partner KL Rahul, who notched a first-innings century, setting the tone for India’s memorable Lord’s victory.Here it was the turn of Rahul to stand alongside the packed Oval crowd after Rohit effortlessly lofted a six to bring up his century. While his celebrations were muted and restricted to just waving a bat, Rohit acknowledged it was a special innings. “It holds a lot of value. You are playing in testing conditions, against quality bowling line-up. Obviously when you do well against that you always feel good. I knew when I came here from the World Test Championship final, I knew I have to put in the best effort with bat however I can, whatever it takes – you know I don’t mind looking ugly at times with whatever I do with the bat as long as I get the job done for the team.”Cheteshwar Pujara congratulates Rohit Sharma on his century•AFP/Getty Images

In reality, Rohit the opener has been anything but ugly. He has shown far more discipline and patience and looked more confident than any other India batter. That has come from hours spent in training sessions where Rohit’s solitary focus has been to read lengths, leave balls and understand where his off stump is. That is what Rohit calls the process.”It is not just, you come here and get a hundred. It has never been like that,” he said. “It is a process and it takes time. We need to understand that. When you are playing overseas it is never easy. When I started opening I knew all those big scores are not going to just happen. There will be a process I will need to follow, keep ticking the small boxes and that’s something I did when I started opening batting.”When you play cricket all over the year, those little adjustments you should be able to make [are] based on the situation, based on the conditions, and [based on the] position of your batting as well. You can’t just come and play shots especially in a place like England. You need to understand situation of the game, certain type of bowlers, considering all that together, there were little adjustments that I had to make and I was happy to do it. It’s a good process. It is a very enjoyable process. Most importantly I trusted whatever I was doing. I knew the results will come, rewards will happen, but it might take time. It’s just that you need to be patient. I was very patient.”Related

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It was on India’s tour of the West Indies in 2019 where the team management spoke for the first time about Rohit opening. Having struggled to find consistency as a middle-order batter, Rohit opened for the first time in the home series against South Africa. He made a stunning and memorable statement, recording twin centuries in his maiden appearance as a Test opener and bookended that South Africa series with a maiden Test double-century.Importantly, Rohit’s success and experience have contributed to India’s opening combinations withstanding new-ball pressure from the opposition, and that was also seen in the final two Tests of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy where Rohit and Shubman Gill stayed solid in Sydney and Brisbane. Looking back at the South Africa series, Rohit agreed that personally he took that assignment as a “last opportunity”.”I wanted to think, in a way, this is it – I have to make good use of this opportunity and for that, whatever it takes, I have to do it. You need to bring a lot of stuff into your batting: most importantly discipline. That is something I focused on a lot, on [and] off the field. When you are in the nets discipline is something I wanted to bring into my batting, whether it is about leaving the ball, solid, tight defence and all of those things. When you play in these conditions, all those things matter.”That patience and discipline is what has kept Rohit hungry despite him taking 47 innings – the second-longest by an Indian – to make his first overseas century. “Getting a hundred, whether it is overseas or at home, it’s always a good feeling,” Rohit said. “That is what all batters try for: getting those big runs and making sure you always try and put the team in good position. [Getting an] overseas hundred was not on my mind. What I was focusing on was the process. If I follow the process, if I believe whatever I’m doing during my practice sessions, I know results will come, you will be rewarded. Sometimes things might not come easy and you need to put in the hard yards.”

Rewind to just shy of three weeks ago and West Bromwich Albion were top of the Championship, undefeated in their first six games and looking firmly on course to a Premier League return after a four-season hiatus. Now, while not exactly in a crisis, the Baggies are without a win in three and have slipped down to fourth.

In their last three games, Carlos Corberan’s side have suffered defeats at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough and most recently were held to a scoreless draw with Millwall.

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“We have to manage this situation,” Corberan said after the loss to Boro. “Every game and every defeat has a message for us, detailing things we did well and things we need to improve.” “We need to get these messages from every game to be able to move on and prepare for the next one.”

After the draw with Mlilwall, Corberan said: “The fact we now have an international break is a perfect period for us to find improvements in the squad, even though we know we will be missing some players who will be away. We are going to work and keep growing as a team.”

Harry Whitwell impressing

Talking of growing the team, one player that Corberan is very excited about is young midfielder Harry Whitwell. Whitwell, 18, has been the star player for Richard Beale’s U-21 side this term. Last month, he netted five goals in three games and earned a nomination for the Premier League 2 player of the month for September.

As a result of his good form, not only is the England U-18 international now training with West Brom’s first-team, he’s also on the radar of higher England age groups, according to the Express & Star.

Speaking about Whitwell, who turns 19 next month, Corberan said he’s delighted with the teenager’s development: “I knew he had a lot of potential. But the level he is maturing as a player, every time he plays with us, every time I watch him, I feel more pleased about how he is performing and growing.”

The youngster could soon leave

Despite being impressed with Whitwell, Corberan may soon let him leave The Hawthorns, albeit not permanently.

“He is a player you can think of two possibilities. He is still a young player. He can make the full year here, progressing how he is, or think about the loan if something appears or we find something we consider is his next step,” Corberan explained to Express & Star.

Any decision on Whitwell’s future, however, won’t be made right now: “These decisions in this time right now? It’s not the moment. These decisions need to start at the end of November and beginning of December, according to how he is progressing, and more things.”