Aston Villa transfer news: Atletico Madrid star 'evaluating' whether to accept Unai Emery offer

Aston Villa are reportedly pushing to sign Atletico Madrid defender Matteo Ruggeri.

With Lucas Digne in line to sign for Paris Saint-Germain once he has completed his summer break, Villa require a new left-back.

AC Milan's Pervis Estupinan has been heavily linked with a switch to the West Midlands, only for that deal to have gone cold in recent days.

As it stands, Ian Maatsen is Villa's only senior option at left-back, making it imperative that Unai Emery strengthens in that area of the pitch as soon as possible.

According to MARCA, the Spaniard has now switched his attention to trying to get a deal over the line for Ruggeri.

Aston Villa eager to complete Ruggeri transfer

The report alleges that Emery wants to sign the 24-year-old 'immediately', recognising the market opportunity in front of him.

With Atletico having brought in Alex Grimaldo from Bayer Leverkusen, Ruggeri has been pushed down the pecking order.

That is despite the Italian contributing seven assists from 47 appearances for Diego Simeone's side in his first campaign at the club.

Ruggeri had previously earned his move to the La Liga giants through his 109 outings for Atalanta BC, where he had chipped in with two goals, 10 assists and starred during their 2023-24 Europa League-winning season.

Amid Villa's eagerness to sign him, Ruggeri is said to be evaluating the offer as he weighs up whether he should bide his time for proposals from elsewhere.

Villa would allegedly pay more than the €17m (£14.55m) that Atletico paid Atalanta last summer.

Ruggeri would be perfect signing for Aston Villa

Despite the qualities that Estupinan would bring Villa should he arrive from San Siro, there is an argument that he is too similar to Maatsen in the sense that his attacking qualities are better than in defence.

When he possesses superior defensive attributes, brings extra height to the backline and can be viewed as backup as a left-sided centre-back, Ruggeri would represent far better business.

With Estupinan currently training with AC Milan ahead of potentially staying put, it would make sense for Villa to pay what is required for Ruggeri and add a much-needed fresh face to their defence.