Aston Villa

Aston Villa

Premier League • England

Aston Villa eyeing shock deadline day raid on Tottenham for dynamic attacking threat

Lucas Moura, Mason Mount Chelsea v Tottenham

Aston Villa are reportedly preparing to make a deadline day raid on Premier League rivals Tottenham for flying winger Lucas Moura.

Steven Gerrard is keen on adding to his squad before the transfer window shuts after his Villa side have suffered a disappointing start to the new campaign, which has carried over a poor end to last term.

The wide forward areas are known to be a major area Gerrard wants to strengthen, having offloaded Bertrand Traore, Trezeguet and most recently Anwar El Ghazi.

And, according to the Daily Telegraph, they have zeroed in on Lucas, after learning of Tottenham and Fulham’s interest in Dan James.

Spurs are trying to bring in the Leeds flyer so that they can then offload Bryan Gil to Valencia. However, there has never really been mention of Lucas parting company with the north London club.

The Brazilian, who is currently on the sidelines with a knock, is a major player off the bench for Antonio Conte. Indeed, Lucas gives the Italian the option of using him as an attacking wing-back or in his normal wide right role.

Tottenham signing James would set off a chain of transfers that would then see Leeds move for Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan, while Spurs may also then be open to offloading Lucas.

Lucas may take some convincing

The main issue for Villa and Gerrard, as reported in the Telegraph, will be convincing the 31-year-old to swap Champions League football for regular domestic action.

Indeed, Lucas is sure to be a regular for Spurs on the bench for their group games in Europe.

However, the hope for Villa is that the attacker may feel regular game time is more important. That is especially prevalent given the upcoming World Cup at the end of the year.

Tottenham also have Richarlison on the books, a player who is capable of playing centrally or out wide. That, in turn, will likely hinder Lucas’ chances even more and may tempt him to move.

Only time will tell now as the clock counts down to the window shutting.

Tottenham man a certain starter for Villa

While Lucas struggles for minutes in north London, moving to Villa Park would be a different matter.

Gerrard’s men have lacked width during their early-season struggles, with Leon Bailey their main wide threat.

Lucas would also give them pace to hit teams on the counter-attack and has an engine that goes all day.

His exit would come as blow to Conte though, given that versatility he provides and the number of games Tottenham will face this season.

READ MORE: Aston Villa, Wolves launch moves for surprise West Ham ace