Aston Villa are set to sign Arsenal-linked Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen for a significant fee, according to reports.
Fabrizio Romano reports that Moussa Diaby has given his approval to a move to Aston Villa, choosing the Premier League club over a significant offer from Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
Playing Premier League football was Diaby’s priority, and he wants to join Unai Emery’s project.
There’s some debate over the exact fee, with Romano reporting that Villa have agreed to pay in excess of €50m (£43.3m) to complete the signing from Bayer Leverkusen. The Athletic claim the total is closer to €40m (£34.6m).
Either way, Diaby has agreed personal terms and the move now seems set to go ahead.
According to previous reports, Diaby had also attracted interest from Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Manchester United in the Premier League.
Loic Tanzi reported for L’Equipe last month that whilst Diaby is a priority target for Newcastle United, they aren’t a priority for him.
The suggestion was that Newcastle had fallen behind Arsenal in convincing the player to join them in a summer transfer, but clearly Villa ended up taking the lead instead.
RMC Sport added that both Arsenal and Newcastle were particularly interested in the move, and that the Gunners made a firm offer for Diaby on the last day of the 2022 summer window.
Links to Arsenal appeared to fade as the Gunners agreed a new contract for Reiss Nelson, seemingly putting the pursuit of a wide forward on the backburner.
Diaby is under contract with Leverkusen until 2025, and he managed 14 goals and 11 assists in 2022/23, bringing him to 49 goals and 48 assists in 172 games for Bayer Leverkusen overall.
The 23-year-old is also a France international, and he can play on either wing.