Aston Villa are set to beat fellow Premier League sides Manchester United and Liverpool to the signing of highly rated Rangers striker Rory Wilson after an agreement for his transfer was reached. Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano tweeted a few days ago that Villa and Rangers have full agreement for the transfer of the young attacker to Villa Park. It was revealed that Aston Villa will pay a transfer fee of £350,000 plus add-ons for the 16-year-old attacker that could reach the £1m mark based on Premier League appearances. The Italian journalist also said personal terms was agreed this month and it’s a done deal. Paperwork for the transfer would be signed on July 1.
Young Scottish striker Wilson was attracting interest from Premier League teams before Aston Villa won the race to sign him from Rangers at the expense of other interested teams such as Liverpool and Manchester United. He’s one shy of 50 goals at club level. Also, he has eight goals in 11 games for the Scotland u-17 team.
On Wilson, his national team manager Brian McLaughlin said he’s potentially one of the best strikers at his age on the European football scene. This is coming from a former Celtic striker who’s familiar with the qualities needed to succeed as an attacking player. McLaughlin talked about Aston Villa-bound Wilson in an interview monitored by the Glasgow Times.
Wilson opted for Villa ahead of the other interested clubs due to the influence of manager Steven Gerrard. The Liverpool legend was the Rangers manager when Wilson was working his way up the ranks at the Scottish Premiership club.
The Athletic also corroborated the news from Romano about the agreement reached between Villa and Rangers for young Wilson. It was disclosed that Rangers have a 10% sell-on clause that will see them collect part of the fee from his next transfer.