Aston Villa look to beat off competition for signature of Trezeguet

Bengaluru, July 21: Aston Villa have beaten French club Saint Etienne to the signature Egyptian winger Mahmoud Trezeguet from Kasimpasa.

Villa manager Dean Smith has been rewarded for flying out to Egypt during the African Cup of Nations to personally run the rule over the 24-year-old and offer him Premier League football.

Reports in France had claimed Saint Etienne were set to hijack the move, using part of the proceeds of William Saliba’s proposed £30million transfer to Arsenal to fund a late swoop.

However, recent reports claim that the Villans expect to complete his signing in the next 48 hours after club CEO Christian Puslow brokered an £8m deal with the Turkish club.

The forward scored nine goals in 29 league games last season to attract serious interest from Galatasaray, Italian giants Inter Milan, Slavia Prague and latecomers Saint Etienne.

Trezeguet also showed his potential, beating Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah to be voted the best player in Egypt’s AFCON Group A.

The Kasimpasa star also completed the most dribbles in Turkish football last season with 112 successful attempts to go past opponents.

Trezeguet will become Smith's ninth signing of a hectic summer spending spree. Prior to the signing, Villa had already forked out £80m on new signings.

Smith’s men are expected to complete the signing of Man City midfielder Douglas Luiz over the weekend for £15m. And that follows hot on the heels of defender Ezri Konsa’s arrival from Charlton.

The Villans have already secured a record deal for Brazilian striker Wesley Moraes and then paid £20m to make Tyrone Mings' deal permanent, with a further £6.5m in potential add-ons.

Kortney Hause, Jota, Anwar El Ghazi, Bjorn Engels and Matt Targett have also been brought in by the Midlands club.