Aston Villa Near £38m Deal for Joao Gomes to Reshape Midfield

Aston Villa are closing in on Joao Gomes in a £38m deal that underlines just how aggressively they intend to reshape their midfield.

The Brazil international has left Wolves’ pre-season training camp in Portugal and is due to undergo a medical on Thursday, with only the final formalities now standing between him and a move to Villa Park.

Villa will pay an initial £34m, with a further £4m tied up in add-ons. It is a sizeable outlay, but one driven by need as much as ambition.

Villa rip up their midfield plan

Unai Emery has already seen one key midfielder depart and another disappear from his plans for months.

Youri Tielemans has been sold to Manchester United for £35m, removing a calm, experienced presence from the centre of the pitch. Amadou Onana, signed to bring power and vertical running, has been ruled out until next year after the serious knee injury he suffered with Belgium at the World Cup.

The spine that was supposed to carry Villa into the season has been ripped apart before a ball has been kicked. Gomes arrives as part of the repair job, but also as a statement of profile: young, aggressive, relentlessly competitive.

At the same time, Villa are close to completing a club-record move for Switzerland international Johan Manzambi from Freiburg, a deal worth more than £50m. One midfield has gone; another, far more expensive one, is being built in its place.

Wolves lose a mainstay

For Wolves, this is the end of a short but intense chapter.

Gomes made 41 appearances last season as the club slumped to the bottom of the Premier League. The team struggled, but his name rarely left the teamsheet. Since arriving from Flamengo in 2023, he has played 130 times for Wolves, scoring seven goals and establishing himself as one of the few consistent performers in a side fighting for air.

His departure strips Wolves of energy and bite in midfield, but the fee reflects how his reputation has grown in a difficult environment.

Atletico Madrid had tracked him and showed strong interest, yet never pushed the deal over the line. Villa did. That decisiveness now gives Emery a midfielder entering his prime, battle-hardened by a relegation fight and ready for a very different kind of pressure.

The question now is simple: with Gomes and Manzambi on the way, and major money committed, how far can this rebuilt Villa midfield take them?