Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard is targeting Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips for the summer market.
Villa boss Steven Gerrard and the club's recruitment team have made central midfield a priority after missing out on Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur in January. Villa had a bid of about £25million turned down by Brighton for Bissouma while Bentancur joined Tottenham from Juventus.
Phillips, 26, was also targeted by Villa in 2019, when Dean Smith led them to promotion from the Championship, but he stayed at Leeds and helped them reach the Premier League the following season, says the Daily Mail.
Gerrard's target is to secure Villa's first top-half finish in the Premier League since 2011 and has now racked up three straight victories, ahead of Sunday's trip to West Ham.
Villa's billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens will back the former England captain again in the summer, with reinforcements likely to be sought in central defence and in the full-back positions as well as in midfield, while Gerrard remains keen to extend Philippe Coutinho's stay at Villa Park after signing his former Liverpool team-mate on loan from Barcelona in January.
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