An update has emerged on Aston Villa target Todd Cantwell, regarding how much Norwich want for his services.

What's the talk?

Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber has admitted that he is confident of keeping hold of Aston Villa target Todd Cantwell this summer. The ex-Huddersfield chief has said that it will take a fee in excess of the reported £35m Villa paid for Emi Buendia to prize Cantwell or right-back Max Aarons away from Carrow Road.

He told the Pink'Un:

“We’re extremely confident, to be honest, because we're certainly not in the paranoia camp and we're definitely not in the mood to be selling late on in the window.

“You never say never. But if someone's going to ring us up in the last week or two in a window, then they better have extremely, extremely deep pockets and much deeper than what Emi went for.

"Because that could derail our whole sort of summer plan and we're in a fortunate position that we don't need to sell."

This comes after Football Insider reported that Villa are closing in on the signing of the Norfolk-born attacker. Webber has swatted away those claims and made it clear how much the Villans need to pay if they are to land the England under-21 international.

Lange must avoid howler

Villa chief Johan Lange must avoid a major howler following this update from Webber. He must not pay more than £35m to sign Cantwell from Norwich this summer as it would represent a huge overpayment on the club's part, which could be better spent elsewhere.

The Canaries want more than what they sold Buendia for and Cantwell played alongside him in the Championship last season, which makes comparing their respective talents slightly easier. In the 2020/21 campaign, the Argentine playmaker racked up 15 goals and 16 assists whilst averaging a phenomenal WhoScored rating of 7.78.

Cantwell, meanwhile, scored six and assisted six as he averaged a score of 7.13. This shows that Villa's record signing outperformed the current Canary considerably in the Championship, which suggests that the club must avoid paying  more for him than they did the former Getafe magician.

That is not to say Cantwell is a bad player, as his statistics are respectable in their own right. His talent was even described as God-given by Gary Cockaday, speaking to The Athletic in October. “Todd looked at one of them in the eye, put his toe under the ball, flicked it back over his head, turned and he was gone. All without looking at the ball.

“He did things every week that were just special. It was God-given. No one taught it. I always believed if you had someone like that, don’t change them or make them conform.”

However, if Norwich are sticking to their guns and will only accept bids in excess of £35m for the midfielder, then Villa must avoid any potential deal. Lange should exit the negotiations and search Europe for an alternative that could provide better value for money.

AND in other news, Time to go: Lange must ruthlessly axe £34k-p/w flop, Villa fans would be relieved...