Nicolo Zaniolo is set for Aston Villa medical ahead of loan move from Galatasaray as Unai Emery seeks cover after losing Emiliano Buendia to a serious ACL injury

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Nicolo Zaniolo is scheduled to undergo a medical at Aston Villa on Wednesday ahead of completing an initial loan move from Galatasaray.

The Italian forward is highly regarded by Villa sporting director Monchi, who worked with him at Roma from 2017-19, and can operate in a number of attacking roles.

Villa have already signed Moussa Diaby, Youri Tielemans and Pau Torres since the end of last season but are desperate for reinforcements after losing Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings to serious knee injuries last week.

Zaniolo would be an intriguing deal. For some time considered the next superstar of Italian football, the 24-year-old’s career has been interrupted by two severe knee injuries. 

And after a strong opening season at Roma under Jose Mourinho, in which he scored the winning goal in the Europa Conference League Final, Zaniolo fell out of favour to such a degree that the club were desperate to sell him last January.

Nicolo Zaniolo is preparing to undergo a medical ahead of a loan move to Aston Villa this week

Unai Emery (left) is desperate for cover in the wake of serious injuries to Emiliano Buendia (right) and Tyrone Mings

The Italy forward struggled to get back into Jose Mourinho's Roma side last season and instead booked a permanent move to Galatasaray

Zaniolo seemed to be on the brink of joining Bournemouth but when the transfer collapsed on the brink of completion, Roma hastily arranged to sell him to Galatasaray for £13million last February. Now he is on the move again.

The former Inter Milan youngster should be entering the prime of his career and has the technical and physical attributes to handle Premier League football. 

Whether Villa boss Unai Emery can release his huge potential is another matter but if Villa can coax a tune from Zaniolo, he could be one of the surprise stars of the season.