Aston Villa 'weigh up summer move for Pedro Goncalves'

Aston Villa have reportedly shown interest in Sporting Lisbon's Pedro Goncalves, with a move in the summer potentially on the cards.

Goncalves made headlines around Europe following his wonder goal from the halfway line at the Emirates against Arsenal in the Europa League last Thursday.

After scoring 23 league goals from midfield in his first season at Sporting in 2020-21, Goncalves has continued his prolific form, with another 17 goals and nine assists this campaign.

Portuguese outlet Record claim that the Premier League side are set to make a move for the 24-year-old at the end of the season.

Goncalves has spent time in England before, being one of Wolverhampton Wanderers' large Portuguese contingent, joining as a 19-year-old, but he did not feature in the Premier League during two years at the club.

He left for Famalicao, where after just one season he earned a move to Sporting, but that is where a potential stumbling block comes into play for both Villa and Sporting.

Record claims that there is a 50% sell-on fee in Goncalves's contract that Sporting would owe to Famalicao, meaning they are unlikely to want to sell for much less than his €80m (£70m) release clause, given how much money they would lose.

Such a high fee could put Villa off from pursuing the deal much further, but with rumours of Sporting hoping to buy out his sell-on clause, that could give both clubs more room to manoeuvre regarding making a deal happen.