According to Foot Mercato, Aston Villa are trying to sign Lyon star Bertrand Traore in this summer transfer window.

What's the word?

Dean Smith's side have already made a significant addition to their forward line with the signing of Brentford striker Ollie Watkins, and the Villa boss now appears to have his eye on reinforcing the wide areas.

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Foot Mercato claim that the Premier League outfit have already made a €17m bid for Traore, but that Lyon are demanding a fee of around €25m (£23m).

The report does add that the Burkina Faso international's desire for first-team football could see this transfer be on the cards.

Upgrade on Trezeguet

After arriving from Turkish side Kasimpasa last summer, Trezeguet showed flashes of his quality in a Villa shirt during the 2019/2020 campaign, finding the back of the net seven times, including that priceless winner against Arsenal in the penultimate game of the season.

But in Traore, Villa could actually land a significant upgrade on the Egypt international. Whilst he may have fallen out of favour at Lyon last season (he played just 23 times in the league), the 25-year-old has proven himself to be a very exciting performer when given the opportunity.

He has an impressive career average of 2.6 shots and 1.7 dribbles per game, and perhaps crucially when compared to Trezeguet, has played some form of European football over the past four seasons - including a quite superb 2016/2017 campaign in the Europa League when he scored four goals and provided four assists in just 13 matches.

Traore has played at the highest level for the likes of Lyon and Ajax, and that level of experience could bring a touch of quality to Villa. The £63k-a-week earning ace is someone who can get fans of the Midlands side off their seat, with his former teammate at Chelsea, Papy Djilobodji, saying: "Technically he is very, very good: with his feints, he is very hard to stop."

Villa should seriously consider going back in with a bid for the winger.