Aston Villa may have finally found their next goalkeeper if fresh reports are to be believed this week...

What's the word?

According to The Athletic's Laurie Whitwell, Dean Smith's side have shown the most interest in Manchester United shot-stopper Sergio Romero after he slipped down the pecking order at Old Trafford.

The Argentine is surely now third choice after Dean Henderson's six-year contract extension and it's claimed that the Red Devils would be more open to a sale than a loan switch.

They value him at around £8m-10m but his £100k-per-week wages could prove to be a difficult factor.

Smart call

Whilst Romero has struggled to cement his place down in Manchester, every time he has played he has been more than reliable, which is summed up well by comments from his boss and teammates.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lauded the 33-year-old as a "top professional" and a "top human being" with him also being one of the "best keepers in the world" whilst Eric Bailly once described Romero as an "immense talent".

Villa would be getting someone who has been first-choice for their national team, however, with the veteran picking up 96 caps for Argentina - 12 of which coming at World Cups - and that is over 30 more than his number of appearances for United.

Back in 2015, he started against the Midlands outfit under Louis Van Gaal and contributed to keeping a clean sheet against a Villa Park attack of Gabby Agbonlahor, Jordan Ayew and Scott Sinclair.

If Johan Lange and co can find a way to make this deal work, then Villa can forget about Pepe Reina and land themselves quite a coup at just £10m.

AND in other news, Aston Villa eye perfect Ollie Watkins alternative in £30m "real menace"...