Aston Villa’s second offer has reasonable chance of being accepted

On Saturday, we covered claims from France that Aston Villa had submitted a €17m offer for Bertrand Traore.

Lyon were said to have knocked this bid back, looking to receive €25m for the former Chelsea player. That figure felt over the top, and it was likelier that the two clubs would meet somewhere in the middle, or Villa walk away from the potential signing.

Since then, France Football have reported an offer worth €20.5m for Traore. This would be a reasonable second move from the Premier League club, and the French source believes Lyon could be minded to accept it.

Rudi Garcia doesn’t count on the player, and Lyon won’t stop Traore from leaving this summer. Should they accept the money on offer from Aston Villa, then it’ll be a case of the Birmingham club convincing Traore over the move.

There’s a chance he may wait to see who else comes forward over the next week or so, but it’s unlikely Lyon will get much more than what Villa are said to have put on the table.

Following claims from Germany of Aston Villa preparing a €18m offer for Werder Bremen’s Milot Rashica, there’s been no update from there over the past 24 hours.