Sports Mole reported at the end of August that Aston Villa had reached a verbal agreement worth €55m, approximately £47m, with Paris Saint-Germain for the teenage attacker Ibrahim Mbaye. The claim, which first surfaced shortly before the summer transfer deadline, frames the Senegal international as a long-standing priority for Unai Emery rather than a late addition to the squad.
According to the publication, Villa initially attempted to sign the 18-year-old during the January window and kept him on their radar throughout the summer. The report suggests negotiations progressed after the club moved away from pursuing other attacking targets, though no deal was officially announced before the window closed on 1 September.
The outlet attributes the interest to a specific tactical requirement within Emery's setup. Mbaye, who is right-footed and typically deployed on the right flank, is described as a player who prefers driving into central areas over hugging the touchline to deliver crosses. That tendency to attack half-spaces and link play in tight areas is said to align closely with how Villa want their wide forwards to operate.
Sports Mole highlights statistical evidence to support that assessment, noting that in a sample of his attacking involvements last season, the vast majority were combination plays rather than crosses. The teenager broke into the PSG first team at 16, becoming their youngest-ever starter, yet accumulated fewer than 1,000 Ligue 1 minutes across the campaign.
Any prospective transfer is now firmly on hold. With the Premier League registration period having shut at the start of this month, clubs cannot complete new signings until the market reopens on 1 January 2027. Aston Villa have not publicly commented on the reports linking them with the forward.
