CaughtOffside: Milan turn back to Spurs man as Aston Villa want €35m+ for defender

AC Milan will resume talks with Spurs over Emerson Royal after being priced out of a deal to sign Matty Cash from Aston Villa, a report claims.

CaughtOffside are reporting that Cash was the preferred right-back target for Milan this summer but Villa’s asking price of €35-40m for the Poland international is too steep and thus they have been forced to walk away.

Royal was negotiated over earlier in the summer and the Brazilian is keen on the idea of a move, so Milan will ‘try to get talks with Tottenham back on again’. Personal terms with the player ‘are not expected to be an issue’, they add.

Villa are able to set a high price because they sold Douglas Luiz earlier this summer which eased their pressures to raise funds before the end of June, and that is why they have slapped a big asking price on Cash.

However, as we reported earlier in the month, Pierre Kalulu has impressed in these first training sessions under Paulo Fonseca so much so that things now seem to have changed regarding his future at the club.

The former Lille coach has seen in Kalulu what he thought was missing from the current group of right-backs in the squad: a player who is good at defending and explosive when going forward. This could thus change the transfer plans.