‘Deal on’ - Aston Villa swoop for long-term Newcastle United & Arsenal target with £30m bid made

The 24-year-old Bayern Leverkusen winger has been targeted by Newcastle United over the past couple of seasons only for The Magpies to be put off by the £60million asking price from the Bundesliga club. But with Newcastle now in pursuit of winger Harvey Barnes from Leicester City, Villa have swooped in and submitted a £30million bid plus add-ons.

Although the bid has been rejected, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims that negotiations are ongoing and the deal is ‘on’. Diaby is also understood to be keen on the move having said ‘yes’ to Villa.

Along with Newcastle, Arsenal have also been linked with a move for the winger who scored 14 and registered 11 assists for Leverkusen in all competitions last season. The season prior, the 10-time French international scored 17 goals and registered 14 assists.

The Magpies retain an interest in the former Paris Saint-Germain man but Villa are pushing ahead with a deal while Eddie Howe’s side look to sign Barnes.

The Leicester winger was ‘rested’ for the behind closed doors pre-season opener after returning to training last week. He scored 13 Premier League goals for a Foxes side that finished 18th last season.

Back in April, Newcastle scouts watched Diaby in action in Leverkusen’s 1-1 draw with Union St Gilloise in the Europa League quarter-final and their 0-0 draw with Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga. The club were also understood to be monitoring 20-year-old attacking-midfielder Florian Wirtz, who scored a stunning goal in the Europa League tie before coming off the bench against Wolfsburg.