Aston Villa complete in-person checks in race to sign “fantastic” Bayern Munich gem

With Champions League football secured and the Europa League celebrated, Aston Villa have stormed into the race to sign Bayern Munich’s Arijon Ibrahimovic.

Aston Villa complete scouting mission on Ibrahimovic

Whilst some heads may still be sore, Aston Villa will need to sober up pretty quickly ahead of the summer transfer window. With a place among Europe’s elite awaiting, the Villans have got plenty to do on the recruitment front.

Of course, now that they’ve qualified for the Champions League, there’s every chance that any PSR pressure has also been eased – potentially allowing them to spend more than expected this summer.

If that is the case, then the first task on their to-do list could be to sign a Bayern Munich gem. According to TeamTalk, Aston Villa have completed in-person checks to sign Ibrahimovic from the German giants, with the midfielder set to return from his loan spell at Heidenheim this summer.

Crystal Palace, Brighton, Brentford and Fulham have also set their sights on the 20-year-old, but Villa will hope to use the lure of Champions League football to win the race after scouts loved what they saw.

Whether Bayern Munich are willing to sell is also another issue. The Bavarian club reportedly believe that Ibrahimovic has a major future in the Bundesliga, but a temporary move away from the club has not been ruled out.

Aston Villa are certainly not afraid to strike up an impressive loan move when necessary and they could yet repeat that genius in pursuit of Ibrahimovic in the coming months.

Dubbed “fantastic” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, the future is certainly bright for Ibrahimovic. Whether that future includes a spell at Aston Villa remains to be seen, however.

Emery insists Aston Villa “not going to stop”

As soon as Aston Villa qualified for the Europa League last season, it was clear that a reunion between Unai Emery and his trophy was highly possible. The Spaniard is the king of the competition and finally lifted the silverware that he deserves in the Midlands.

The Villans aren’t stopping there, though. As proud as Emery is, he was the first to admit that his side are only just getting started at full-time in Istanbul.

He told reporters: “With this trophy we are showing our development as well. My dream when I arrived here was play in Europe, play for a trophies. This is the first one we are achieving, we played a semi final before and the experiences we are having like today is important with how we can get better.

“It makes sense with this club because after 1982 this club won the European Cup. Achieving this one that makes us so happy and proud of the way we are working but we are not going to stop.”

Read next: How Aston Villa won the Europa League final