Leicester to snare talented Villa winger

Numerous sources including The Birmingham Mail are reporting that a deal is close to take Albrighton to the King Power stadium, amid rumours of ban on new contracts at Aston Villa.

Albrighton has had a frustrating few years, in and out of the picture due to problems with form, injury and managerial changes. Last season he finally managed to find that form and though he didn’t light up the stats sheet, he was certainly one of our most consistent performers. He seemed the only player capable of creating regular chances from open play in the second half of the season, ending with 4 assists to his name.

Now it seems Leicester are willing to offer him £35,000 per week on a 4 year contract. That’s quite a steep offer to match, even without bringing Villa's wage bill issues into the picture. Leicester have ambitious plans to spend their way into Europe and will likely give Albrighton more assurances of a regular starting role.

Villa fans are divided on the question of whether Albrighton is good enough for the long term, but if he leaves there is no doubt it gives us another problem. With our creative options already extremely limited, we would simply have to find a replacement should he leave. Aleksander Tonev has yet to prove he is up to Premier League standard, Charles N’Zogbia has probably played his last game for Villa and after that all that remains are youngsters Samir Carruthers and Jack Grealish.

That one of our best players from the last few months will probably leave for free to a newly promoted team, age 24, is a great indication of the mess Villa find themselves in.