Aston Villa have submitted a late offer for Craig Dawson, according to Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth...

What's the word?

He tweeted:

"Aston Villa & Wolves have offers in for West Ham United defender Craig Dawson. Dawson wants to return to the Midlands for family reasons. West Ham looking at potential replacements. Talks continue with Southampton over the signing of Jan Bednarek."

It remains to be seen exactly how much the 32-year-old veteran would command on deadline day, given he cost the Irons around £2m last summer.

Astute signing

With Villa in need of defensive reinforcements following the serious injury to summer signing Diego Carlos, it could be an astute move to sign a vastly-experienced leader like Dawson as his replacement over the coming months.

Steven Gerrard is hardly blessed with options, with the two spots currently best filled by two of Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Calum Chambers, none of whom have as many top-flight appearances as the former West Brom star, who has racked up 238 matches across three teams.

The 6 foot 2 colossus has certainly still got the quality to compete at this level after he was named in the Europa League's 'Team of the Season' for 2021/22.

Dawson was also the Hammers' second-highest rated central defender in the Premier League last season, leading the way for aerial duels won (2.8) per game, too, via WhoScored.

Former West Ham assistant Stuart Pearce once dubbed the £52k-per-week defender an "incredible kid" and a "pleasure to work with" to talkSPORT [Wednesday 20 January, 8:30am], whilst ex-Hammers defender Anton Ferdinand has described him as a "leader".

These are all attributes that would aid Gerrard's plight at Villa Park heading into the weeks and months after the window slams shut.

As such, sporting director Johan Lange must look to get this deal completed ahead of their Midlands rivals at all costs. Gerrard badly needs someone like Dawson to pull him out of this mess.

AND in other news, Villa can finally replace Grealish in late £20m swoop for "completely unplayable" wiz...