Aston Villa are pressing ahead with talks to sign versatile Marseille midfielder Morgan Sanson in a deal worth around £15m, claims The Daily Telegraph.
Marseille, like many French clubs, are looking to improve their finances after being hit substantially by COVID-19.
The Ligue 1 giants were originally hoping to command in the region of £25m for Sanson this month but Villa are confident of landing the 26-year-old for much less than that.
Villa bolstered their midfield options in the summer with the arrival of Ross Barkley but the Chelsea loanee hasn't featured since November due to injury.
With a run of four games in the final 10 days of this month, Dean Smith will have to use his entire squad to get through this challenging period.
Rotation is not something Villa have not done a lot of so far this season, with Smith clearly unhappy with the gap in quality between his best XI and the rest.
Sanson, who hasn't quite maximised his potential at Marseille, would certainly offer Villa another solid midfield options, particularly with Conor Hourihane being lined up by several Championship clubs this month.
Sanson, who was once a France U21 internatonal, is into his fourth year with Marseille and has racked up over 100 league appearances for the club in that time.
Overall, the versatile 26-year-old has played a direct hand in 66 goals in 219 Ligue 1 appearances across spells at Montpellier and Marseille.
