Lucas Barrios & Armin Bacinovic

Aston Villa are today being linked with two players, one I am very aware of and rate pretty highly and another I have never heard of.

German media are reporting that both Villa and Chelsea are interested in Borussia Dortmund striker Lucas Barrios.

The two clubs are said to do battle with Spanish moneybags Malaga for the Paraguayan international’s signature. He scored 16 times for the German club last season but has since fell out of favour at the club.

It is believed that that the player will cost in access of £15million.

I am a big follower of this striker and I rate him very highly. Could he do a job for us? Yes he could but I believe he will go to a bigger club like Malaga or Chelsea.

Armin Bacinovic

Sky Sports are this afternoon reporting that the agent of Armin Bacinovic has stated that Aston Villa are seriously interested in the Slovenia international.

The midfielder is only 22, and is believed to have stated openly that he would love to play his trade in the Premiership one day.

He is currently out of favour at Italian side Palermo, and Villa will face competition from both Napoli and Chievo.

Amir Ruznic told Zurnal24: “Everything is still open at the moment. Aston Villa are really serious, but as are Chievo.

“I really thought that by the weekend, everything would be sorted, but I have a feeling that we might just have to wait until the very last few days of the transfer window.

“It’s a fact that Armin would like to stay with his current club Palermo, but only if he could play regular first-team football.

“President Maurizio Zamparini has a high opinion of him, but we’ll see what talks with other clubs will eventually bring to us.”