Aston Villa Close in on £38m Joao Gomes for Midfield Rebuild

Aston Villa are set to land Joao Gomes from Wolves in a £38m deal that underlines the scale of Unai Emery’s midfield rebuild.

The Brazil international has left Wolves’ pre-season training camp in Portugal and is due to undergo a medical on Thursday, with Villa agreeing an initial £34m fee plus a further £4m in add-ons.

It is a decisive move from a club forced back into the market. Youri Tielemans has gone to Manchester United in a £35m transfer and Amadou Onana is out until next year after a serious knee injury suffered while on duty for Belgium at the World Cup. Two key midfielders gone in quick succession; Villa had to act.

Gomes, 23, offers exactly the sort of energy and bite Emery craves between the lines. He was one of the few bright spots in a grim season at Molineux, making 41 appearances as Wolves slumped to the bottom of the Premier League. Since arriving from Flamengo in 2023, he has played 130 times for the club, scoring seven goals and growing into a central figure in their engine room.

Atletico Madrid tracked him and showed firm interest, yet never pushed a deal over the line. Villa did. Once the Midlands club moved with a concrete offer, the path cleared.

And they are not stopping there. Villa are also closing on Switzerland international Johan Manzambi from Freiburg for a fee of more than £50m, a prospective club-record signing that would further reshape Emery’s options in the centre of the pitch.

From losing Tielemans and Onana to potentially adding Gomes and Manzambi in the same window, Villa’s midfield is being torn down and rebuilt at speed. The question now is not whether they are backing Emery, but how far this new-look core can carry them in the seasons ahead.