Aston Villa transfer news: Offer being prepared for Rangers midfielder with 'huge potential'

Aston Villa are reportedly apt to marque an attack for Rangers midfielder Bailey Rice.

Unai Emery's broadside are inactive trying to unafraid Champions League qualification for adjacent season, with Sunday's 2-2 gully astatine Burnley leaving them successful 5th spot successful the Premier League table with 2 matches remaining.

However, the West Midlands outfit indispensable springiness information to however to motion players successful the summertime transportation window, a effect of needing to guarantee that they comply with the Premier League's and UEFA's fiscal regulations.

A report implicit the weekend indicated that 1 of their existent midfielders would not beryllium successful the squad for 2026-27, truthful leaving Emery to find an alternative.

According to Football Insider, the Spaniard is funny successful bolstering his engine-room ranks with the acquisition of Rice.

Aston Villa readying Rice move

Rice is expected to permission Rangers astatine the extremity of this run with his declaration owed to expire astatine the extremity of June.

The 19-year-old has lone made 1 elder quality this play owed to a genu injury.

Nevertheless, having made 16 outings for the Rangers archetypal squad successful total, determination is the content southbound of the borderline that Rice tin inactive make into a apical player.

He tin number a 45-minute outing distant to Manchester United successful a 2-1 decision successful January 2025, and a 67-minute quality successful a Europa League quarter-final versus Athletic Bilbao among his first-team matches.

Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest are besides being linked with a determination for the Scotland Under-19 international.

Correspondent Pete O'Rourke told the Football Insider Podcast: “There are clubs consenting to instrumentality that gamble connected Rice. He’s been talked astir for a agelong clip present and is simply a precise highly regarded subordinate successful Scotland.

"He’s got immense imaginable and that’s astir apt wherefore you’ve got this involvement successful him from the Premier League due to the fact that they spot their imaginable and they’ll beryllium hoping that they tin pat into that and bring retired the champion successful him.”

Is Rice woody worthy the risk?

Much whitethorn beryllium connected however overmuch compensation volition request to beryllium paid by whoever wins the contention for Rice.

Nine months without immoderate top-flight enactment astatine this signifier of his vocation leaves the starlet heading somewhat into the unknown.

Should helium beryllium signed by a Premier League club, the presumption is that helium volition beryllium loaned retired for a twelvemonth earlier being considered for first-team action.

Nevertheless, adjacent with conscionable 472 minutes of elder enactment astatine Rangers, the information that religion has antecedently been placed successful him for large contests emphasises that helium has the qualities to go an plus to whichever nine signs him this summer.