Aston Villa have held talks to sign the £50m star

Aston Villa have had to be smart in the transfer market in recent years because they have never had a PSR situation or stop at football to go out and sign the best players in the world.

They have had to identify under-appreciated or under-appreciated talent to build a team capable of challenging for the bottom of the Premier League under Unai Emery.

Morgan Rogers is a great example of what they should have done. He was deemed not good enough at Manchester City and was sold to Middlesbrough, with Villa then swooping in to sign him from Boro.

The 23-year-old star has now hit double figures for both goals and assists in the last two seasons in all competitions for the Villans, which has sparked Arsenal’s interest.

They are yet to find an impressive young talent like Jack Grealish, however, who came through as a teenager at Villa Park and was a star before his £100m move to Manchester City in 2021.

Aston Villa hold talks to sign Premier League talent

It’s not easy to sign players of Grealish’s talent, which is why they were lucky to have him come through their academy, but qualifying for the club’s Champions League means they have a great chance of doing so.

Now, the club have been linked with a search for a star who could land at Villa Park as their biggest talent since Grealish left nearly five years ago.

According to The Athletic, Aston Villa is one of the clubs interested in signing Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Lucas Bergvall in the summer transfer window.

The report claims that Villa and Chelsea both contacted Spurs to hold talks over a potential move for the Sweden international this year, but were told at the time that he was not for sale.

Now, The Athletic claim the midfielder has told the Lilywhites he would like to look at a move away from the club this summer, opening the door to an exit from North London.

TalkSPORT backs up this claim with their report that Villa, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest are all interested in a deal to sign the Swede, who was snapped up for £50m in April.

Aston Villa’s biggest talent since Jack Grealish

The Villans can secure their top talent with Grealish on their books if they beat Chelsea and Forest to Bergvall’s signature in the coming weeks.

Rogers is a huge talent in the current squad, given his links to Arsenal, but the Swede has had a much more successful career than the Englishman at the same age.

Before he turned 21, Rogers had never played a game in the Premier League, never been capped by England, and had played on loan in League One and the Championship.

Meanwhile, Bergvall has already made 50 Premier League appearances for Spurs and doesn’t turn 21 until February next year, which speaks volumes for how well his career has progressed.

The 20-year-old talent has also won the Europa League, doing so with Spurs in 2024, and he did so four years younger than Rogers when he won it with Villa this year.

Bergvall, who has scored just one Premier League goal in his career, has shown incredible ability to play at such a high level at such a young age, and has drawn comparisons with football’s greats.

The Athletic’s JJ Bull said the Swedish star had “first impressions like (Luka) Modric”, the former Spurs star and one-time Ballon d’Or winner, referring to the form he has shown in the Premier League.

While potential doesn’t always materialize, just look at Grealish after leaving Villa, Bergvall’s signing would be a statement of intent and shows that the Villans can attract quality young players to the club now that they have Champions League football to offer.

Villa haven’t had such an exciting talent on their hands since Grealish arrived at the academy, which is why they will have to fight hard to win the race for Bergvall’s signature this summer.