Aston Villa have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Werder Bremen forward Milot Rashica this week, according to fresh reports...

What's the word?

BirminghamLive's Ashley Preece claims that the Midlands club, for the time being, have walked away from negotiations over the 24-year-old attacker.

Villa have tracked the player throughout the summer transfer window with sporting director Johan Lange holding talks with Bremen chief Frank Baumann recently.

However, despite meeting his €22.5m (£20.5m) release clause, it's thought that discussions have stalled with Rashica wanting to double his €40k-per-week (£36.5k-per-week) wages.

Dean Smith's side are wary of splashing out huge wages to players yet to prove themselves in the English game.

Huge blow

This comes as a massive blow to Villa's transfer plans as the Kosovan talisman would have offered a new versatile threat and could have perhaps lessened the burden on skipper Jack Grealish.

The 24-year-old provided 11 goals and eight assists playing on the left-wing and through the middle for the Bundesliga outfit last season.

Per WhoScored, he averaged 2.6 shots, two dribbles, 1.4 key passes and one cross per game, so evidently he's a troublesome presence wherever he's playing on the pitch.

Rashica has even been likened to Alexis Sanchez in his playing style - "It's not just his ability to play across the front line and ice-cold finishing that Rashica has in common with Arsenal-era Alexis Sanchez. A one-man attacking force with pace to burn, the Bremen talisman has that self-same stocky build and low centre of gravity that made Sanchez such an overwhelming prospect for opposition defenders back in his Barcelona and Arsenal days."

Whilst his Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt claims the wing wizard "makes scoring look easy" and there hasn't been many players like that at Villa Park in recent years.

A front three of Rashica, Ollie Watkins and Bertrand Traore with Grealish in support should be enough for Villa to avoid another relegation scrap, so losing out on him over wages could be a killer blow.

AND in other news, Aston Villa must avoid a swoop for Danny Drinkwater v2...