Villa join Everton, West Ham in pursuit of Chelsea winger

According to multiple reports that unfortunately seem to be stemming from the Daily Mail, Aston Villa are pursuing the possibility of bringing in Christian Atsu on loan. The 22-year-old was last seen storming up the left wing for Ghana during the World Cup, and he's made it clear that he won't be returning for another loan spell at Dutch side Vitesse.

As you might gather from the mention of Vitesse, Atsu's parent club is Chelsea. Hence, talk of another loan. But Villa aren't the only ones looking to get a quality player on the cheap. Fellow Premier League sides West Ham and Everton are interested, as are Bundesliga club Hamburg and La Liga's Espanyol.

If the Blues want Atsu to gain that valuable Premier League Experience, they'll probably try to farm him off to Everton. But there's a catch: they can't allow Romelu Lukaku to have another loan spell there if they send Atsu to the Toffees. So Lukaku must either stay at Chelsea or secure a permanent move to Everton (or something else, I guess).

As always, it's a series of dominoes that often leads to a completion of a transfer. Let's hope the dominoes fall Villa's way this time. We've said in the past that it can be infuriating to be a club that hones and shines young players, only to send the polished product back to their parents, but alas, at this point Villa don't have much choice. Supplementing the experienced, cheap signings Villa have already made this season with quality youngsters who've already done well in Europe -- well, it could be worse.