One of Aston Villa's old transfer targets has been linked towards a move to the Premier League this week but it would be wise for the club to avoid going back in for him this time around...

What's the word?

According to the Express in January, Villa were one of the sides looking to bring Porto striker Moussa Marega to the English top-flight having regularly tracked his progress in Portugal.

It's thought the 29-year-old has a £26m release clause but it remains to be seen whether that is still intact or not.

His agent spoke to A Bola earlier this week where he revealed that several English clubs had approached him this summer and the forward dreams of playing in the Premier League one day.

Shades of Samatta

It's funny how things could have been ever so different - if Dean Smith signed Neal Maupay over Wesley Moraes and if Marega joined instead of Mbwana Samatta.

They aren't too different in playing style, so clearly the Villa chief had some sort of exact profile in mind.

Both are powerful 6-foot plus forwards who can play centrally on their own but also out wide - this season, Marega bagged 14 goals and seven assists in all competitions whilst averaging 1.8 shots and 1.1 key passes per game, via WhoScored.

The Mali international has been nicknamed the "terminator" in the past and it's easy to see why given his goalscoring record.

His former Evry coach Khalid Mahroug claims his success is down to being "a hard worker with nothing to lose" but it's another huge gamble trusting a player from abroad after missing twice on players from the Belgian league.

Smith is in desperate need of finding a proven goalscorer who has cut the mustard in England - his side scored only 49 goals last season, six of which were between Wesley and Samatta. That's simply not good enough.

But Marega could quite easily become another Samatta rather than the PL hitman they should be longing for.

AND in other news, Aston Villa must avoid splashing £20m on Premier League star...