[Link] Aleksandar Tonev

Bulgarian international Aleksandar Tonev has emerged as an early summer transfer target for Villa with manager Paul Lambert preparing to kick off his latest recruitment drive.

But the swoop for the attacking midfielder, who plays for Polish Ekstraklasa club, Lech Poznan, is far from a done deal and the claret and blues face competition for his signature.

Villa have declared their interest in Tonev, although reports the 23-year-old is due to fly to Birmingham tomorrow for a medical are wide of the mark with talks not at such an advanced stage yet and rival suitors still in contention.

Tonev, who can play on either flank and as a second striker but is used predominantly on the left wing, is also being pursued by Lambert’s former club Celtic and Werder Bremen of the German Bundesliga.

Villa are thought to have been alerted to the former CSKA Sofia youngster’s potential by former captain Stiliyan Petrov who still has close links to Bulgarian football. Petrov has been handed a youth coaching role by Lambert after retiring from playing following his battle against acute leukaemia.

Tonev has two years remaining on his current contract at Lech Poznan, where he has scored seven goals in 51 league appearances. The right-footed player has been capped 11 times by Bulgaria and his three international goals came in the form of a hat-trick in a 6-0 World Cup qualifying win over Malta in March.

Tonev was in action for his current club in a 1-1 draw away at Slask Wroclaw in the Ekstraklasa, the top flight of Polish football yesterday evening.

But, if the Tonev deal is not completed, the claret and blues have other targets in mind at the start of what promises to be a busy summer of comings and goings at Bodymoor Heath.

Meanwhile, despite reports linking Villa with a move for prolific Burnley striker Charlie Austin and Peterborough goalgetter Dwight Gayle, the club are not believed to have expressed an interest in either player and neither is among Lambert’s top targets.

 

i heard he say to aston villa , i want go to bundesliga !!

 

Where did you hear this ???

 

No disrespect, but you seem to 'hear' an awful lot of things.

 

How many on here have actually seen him play? Everyone seems to want him yet I doubt many are regularly watching the Ekstraklasa. I actually do watch Polish football and as I said earlier in this thread he isn't great. If Villa pay 3.5 million they are being fleeced, thats what Dortmund payed for Lewandowski and he was by far the best player in the league. Tonev isn't even the best in his position.

 

Who is the best player we actually could attract

 

Jakub Kosecki is the best left winger in the league imo. He plays for Legia Warsaw and is only 22. Its hard to say who the best player in the league this year was, Most players either had a good fall rouhd or a good spring round. If I had to pick someone I would probably say artur Jedrzejczyk, a central defender who played for Legia but he just got purchased by a Russian club.

 

Hi Mike91,I've never seen him play and i couldn'y care less if it wiz Messi, I refuse to get upset over some player we've never had. If he signs fair enough but i won't get all hot and bothered cos some other club joins the queue and looks Fav to win his sig..

Naw, no me.. i'll wait till their pulling the Hoops on before i let my feelings known.

 

Cheers buddy so whose the best winger and do you think they would come to us. Also what kind of wages do these guys get in poland

 

As I said Kosecki is the best left winger but he can also play on the right side. Both he and Tonev are actually right footed but are usually played on the left. As far as other wide players in the league, Pawel Wszolek is a good young winger, he's only 20 or 21, he had an amazing fall round but struggled a bit in the spring, he can also play on both sides. I personally think those two are better options than Tonev.

Players in Poland make next to nothing compared to British players, The top earners probably make around 5,000 pounds a week.

 

There might be a good chance that we could attract one of these players or do they normally goto germany

 

Where can you watch the Polish League?Watched all the Bundasliga on ESPN,best league in world imo.Hopefully BT keep showing it.

 

Online streams.

 

Looks like Villa has lifted him - and for only £2.6M

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4950471/Lambo-to-nick-Hoops-target.html

 

No quotes.

 

* You lambert

 

We should be able to afford 3 million no problem * sake

 

Didn't we have an offer of £2m accepted days ago? This just smacks of The Sun trying to wring the last drops out of the-day-before-yesterday's news. I genuinely don't believe we're any further on with the Tonev story. All that's been confirmed is that both us and Villa have had bids accepted. That means very little in terms of where he'll actually end up, though, in that its down to the player to choose from here (and we knew that on Tuesday).

 

That article is pretty vague.. But, Oh well, if he goes to Villa so what, plenty other players out there.

 

P.S hope Villa get relegated, and * you Lambert :bbpd: