Having secured deals for Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Digne and now Kerr Smith, Aston Villa have been quite busy in the January transfer window so far.

With just over two weeks left until the window closes, this will give the club plenty of time to assess any other areas of their squad that they feel may need strengthening.

One area that Steven Gerrard is apparently keen on strengthening is in the middle of the park. With that in mind, and having been mentioned with a move for Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Denis Zakaria in the past, this could be a deal that they may be able to execute in the coming days and weeks.

Since joining Monchengladbach back in 2017, the 25-year-old - who is currently valued at £24.3m by Transfermarkt - has made a total of 144 appearances across all competitions for the German club.

Villa fans could be dazzled

In those appearances, Zakaria - who is currently picking up £51k-per-week according to Salary Sport - has scored 11 goals and supplied eight assists along the way, showing that he could be a useful attacking threat for Villa from the midfield.

Labelled a "pearl" of a player in the past by Lothar Matthaus, Zakaria's current contract at Borussia Park is set to expire in the summer, which could incentivise the club to sell him this month and get a fee for him rather than lose him on a free transfer later this year if he doesn't sign a new deal.

Also, with Villa recently being linked with a move for Brighton's Yves Bissouma, Zakaria could be a cheaper alternative to the Seagulls midfielder, with the south coast club apparently only willing to consider a bid of around £50m for him this month.

With the Switzerland international having been likened to former Real Madrid and Juventus superstar Zinedine Zidane by international colleague Yann Sommer, it would be an exciting prospect for the Villa fans to see the club's owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens secure a dream deal for Zakaria, given the hype around him and the fact that he could bring some experience of playing in the Europa League and Champions League with him to Villa Park.

Moving forward, if Villa are keen on signing a midfielder this month, they should definitely make an approach to Monchengladbach to see what the situation is with Zakaria and see if the Bundesliga outfit would be willing to sell him in January for a decent fee.

If they can beat the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Barcelona and Arsenal to the 25-year-old's signature, on top of landing a marquee player in Coutinho, it would be another piece of transfer business to blow Villa fans away.

In other news: Villa have “agreement” for £13k-p/w ace with a “big presence”, Gerrard will be elated