ASTON VILLA have agreed a €10.8 million fee with Wigan Athletic for Charles N’Zogbia but are unlikely to sign the Frenchman until the end of the week because he remains on holiday in Dubai.
The Midlands club were in talks with N’Zogbia’s representatives last night as they sought to come to an agreement as to exactly when the player would board a flight back to England to undergo a medical and sign a five-year contract at Villa.
Although it seems strange that N’Zogbia has not jumped on the first available flight – he is at the centre of a significant transfer deal and less than three weeks before the start of the season is not traditionally a time when footballers get a chance to enjoy some sun – Villa insist that they are completely relaxed about the situation and have no reason to believe that the deal will not go through.
They have made it clear that they would, ideally, like to sit down with N’Zogbia at the earliest opportunity to complete the necessary paperwork but have also pointed out that it was Wigan’s decision to grant the 25-year-old a break and that it would be nigh-on impossible for the player to link up with his new team-mates this week.
Villa are in Hong Kong on a pre-season tour and N’Zogbia does not have the required work visa, meaning he will not be integrated with the first-team squad until they return next week.
It is anticipated, though, that N’Zogbia will have shown up at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground before then to begin some light training with the young players that have not travelled.
N’Zogbia seemed pleased at the prospect of joining Villa when the possibility was put to him yesterday morning. “If I have the opportunity to go there, I’d be happy, of course,” he said. “I have always said that I wanted to join a club more upscale than Wigan. Aston Villa is of that calibre. The proposed challenge interests me.”
The Villa manager, Alex McLeish, will be particularly relieved when Villa finally secure the services of a player who eluded him last summer, when he was in charge of Birmingham City. Wigan and Birmingham agreed a fee for N’Zogbia but the deal collapsed at the 11th hour following a row over personal terms.
N’Zogbia, who scored nine Premier League goals last season and played an influential role in keeping Wigan in the Premier League, is seen by the Villa manager as a natural replacement for Stewart Downing.
Downing joined Liverpool in a €22.70 million deal this month, leaving a void N’Zogbia is more than capable of filling with his pace, trickery and goalscoring ability – qualities that prompted Dave Whelan, the Wigan chairman, to claim he would be an “absolute snip” at £10 million (€11.3).
Villa had initially offered €10.1 million prompting a game of brinkmanship that eventually led to the two clubs compromising and agreeing to meet in the middle.
While Whelan has suggested Roberto Martinez will get the full transfer fee to spend, Villa’s outlay on N’Zogbia is likely to be the last big transfer fee this summer, having signed Shay Given from Newcastle United for €4 million.
Guardian Service
