Aston Villa must have thought they had Idrissa Gueye in the bag after agreeing a £9 million fee and holding talks with the Lille midfielder on Thursday, but it seems there could be another twist to the tale.
According to media reports this morning Gueye has not yet agreed terms with Aston Villa despite visiting Birmingham to do so yesterday amid reports that both Saints & Marseille have made a higher bid to Lille for his services.
Both clubs are said to have upped the bid to £10 million according to the Daily Mail, however its believed that the player favours a move to the Premier League rather than staying in France
Agent Mark McKay, acting for Lille, said: 'Idrissa has a lot of interest and the pull of Marseille is big for any player in France but the lure of the Premier League should outweigh that.'
That being the case if Saints should truly be interested then they have a lot more to offer than Villa who are a club in turmoil with ownership issues to be resolved whilst on the pitch they had a poor season in the Premier League only escaping relegation on the penultimate game of the season and next years prospects don't seem much better with mid table at best.
Saints however can offer a possible run in the Europa League as well as looking to improve on last season's 7th place and in doing so secure a third consecutive top 8 finish.