MX23RW : Friday, May 3 14:24:38| >> :60:2985:2985:

Jota close to Villa switch, with Gardner heading the other way in Birmingham swap deal

Jota close to Villa switch, with Gardner heading the other way in Birmingham swap deal
© Reuters
Jota cost £6million when he joined Birmingham from Brentford.

Aston Villa are close to signing Birmingham forward Jota, with Gary Gardner heading to St Andrew's.

The pair are having medicals on Friday ahead of a swap deal, Press Association Sport understands.

Jota will be Villa's first signing since returning to the top flight after a three-year absence following Monday's 2-1 Sky Bet Championship play-off final victory over Derby.

He cost Birmingham £6million in 2017 when he joined from Brentford, where he worked under Villa boss Dean Smith, and scored eight goals in 75 games for Blues.

Gardner spent last season on loan at St Andrew's, playing 42 times as Garry Monk's side finished 17th in the Sky Bet Championship having been deducted nine points for breaching the English Football League's profitability and sustainability rules.

Villa are preparing for the top flight after returning following relegation from the Premier League in 2016. They finished bottom, winning just three games, on that occasion.

Villa were 13th in February this season, but 10 straight wins catapulted them into the Championship's top six at the end of the campaign.

Promotion was vital, with their parachute payments running out this season, and chief executive Christian Purslow said they will use their £170million promotion windfall wisely.

He told AVTV: "We have a very well-organised recruitment department, under Suso's (sporting director) leadership – really great young recruiters and highly experienced scouts have joined our club in the last six months.

"They have been working meticulously, Dean and I have been seeing those materials for many weeks.

"We now move from the hypotheticals of Championship v Premier League – we are in the Premier League.

"We will be inundated with both suggestions and speculation. That won't impact us one iota. We know what we want to do and we will do it thoughtfully and carefully.

"We have momentum. We have a core of players that we're very excited about. But obviously there will be comings and goings.

"Our goal is that when we arrive in the Premier League, we are ready with a Dean Smith team – players that fit his playing profile and that give us the best possible chance to make a real impact next season, not just making up the numbers.

"There's no interest in flirting with the catastrophe of relegation that the club has had to live with for the last three years, so we need to make really good decisions and add players who really improve us."

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association Sport staff');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '7daf3294-d029-4810-baa2-5c2b4c33dbe5');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Jota close to Villa switch, with Gardner heading the other way in Birmingham swap deal'});

ID:360801: cacheID:360801:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:5018:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Christian Purslow at an Aston Villa press conference in late 2018
Read Next:
Aston Villa keen to make impact in Premier League, says chief executive
>
Read more about Christian Purslow Football
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Arsenal35255585285780
2Manchester CityMan City34247382325079
3Liverpool35229477364175
4Aston Villa35207873522167
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs341861067541360
6Manchester UnitedMan Utd34166125251154
7Newcastle UnitedNewcastle341651374551953
8Chelsea34149116559651
9West Ham UnitedWest Ham351310125665-949
10Bournemouth35139135260-848
11Wolverhampton WanderersWolves35137154855-746
12Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton341111125257-544
13Fulham35127165155-443
14Crystal Palace351010154557-1240
15Everton35128153748-1136
16Brentford3598185260-835
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3579194262-2026
18Luton TownLuton3567224877-2925
19Burnley3559213870-3224
RSheffield UnitedSheff Utd3537253497-6316


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!