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Aston Villa have identified Atlético Madrid’s Matteo Ruggeri as the main target to replace Lucas Digne and have made advances. The France international will leave the Premier League side for Paris Saint-Germain. The Villans are yet to confirm his sale and are working on getting in a quality replacement. Earlier this week, we relayed news of Aston Villa pushing hard to sign the 24-year-old quickly. On Wednesday, Sport Witness covered an update from Spain that Unai Emery’s side and Los Rojiblancos reached an agreement for €18m plus €6m bonuses. However, the 24-year-old hadn’t given the green light. The fullback’s agents, Tullio Tinti and Manuel Montipó, have already met Atlético sporting director Mateu Alemany. Negotiations between the two clubs ‘came to fruition’ after this meeting. Aston Villa to wrap up signing soon ABC again points out Diego Simeone left the Italian out of the squad for the trip to South Korea. Instead, he’s in Madrid sorting out his future. This isn’t surprising, considering the manager has replaced him with a reserve team fullback in training. | La Liga 2025/26 | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| | Appearances | 26 | | | | | Started | 20 | | | | | Minutes per game | 68 | | | | | Total minutes played | 1775 | | | | | Goals | 0 | | | | | Assists | 3 | | | | In fact, Matteo Ruggeri hasn’t trained with the rest of the group and has done individual sessions. He will lose his place in the starting XI to summer signing Alejandro Grimaldo. These are clear signs he has no future at the La Liga side. ABC states the ‘deal is not yet finalised, but an agreement with Aston Villa is expected soon.’ Friday’s edition of AS reports the Italian is negotiating with the Europa League winners. Another newspaper, Mundo Deportivo, states Atlético Madrid will close his sale once he finds an agreement with the English club. Aston Villa’s lucrative offer Over in Italy, Tutto Atalanta report Matteo Ruggeri is getting closer to joining Aston Villa, a year after leaving Atalanta for Atlético Madrid. It could take a few days to formalise the operation, but the possibility is real because of the finances. The Italian, who is a product of the Serie A side’s academy, earned €200,000 annually in 2023. La Dea raised it to €800,000 and it then increased to €2.5m per year at Atlético. Aston Villa are now offering €5m per year salary for the player to accept a move. There’s confidence in Italy and Spain this move will go through soon. 🇮🇹 Pervis Estupinan | “Refuse to believe they like him” ➡️ Aston Villa have just dodged transfer bullet https://t.co/P56EP3sc8R #avfc — Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) August 6, 2026