ASTON Villa boss Dean Smith is set to make Tanzanian Mbwana Samatta his third signing of the January transfer window with the Genk forward heading to Villa Park in an £8.5m move, according to reports in Belgium.
Samatta is best known to fans in the UK for scoring in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Genk in the Champions League back in November.
Villa are in the market for a striker after losing Wesley for the rest of the season due to a serious knee injury suffered in the New Year’s Day win at Burnley.
Now it was reported that Samatta is going to come in and ease Smith’s worries as the Villans look to power themselves out of the relegation zone and then up the Premier League table.
They claim Villa are poised to hand over £8.5m (€10m) to land the 27-yearold, who has turned down lucrative offers from the Middle East this winter to pursue his ‘dream’ of playing in the Premier League.
Samatta has scored 10 goals in all competitions for Genk this season, including his strike in the Champions League defeat to Liverpool before Christmas.
He reportedly trained as usual with Genk on Thursday morning, but is set to depart before Sunday’s showdown with Zulte Waregem.
Villa have scored the most goals in the bottom half of the table with 28 bagged in the opening 22 games of the 2019/20 campaign.
But Smith is desperate to bring in a striker to play as the focal point of his team, which sits 18th, a point from safety. Samatta will become Villa’s third signing following the loan arrivals of Danny Drinkwater from Chelsea and Pepe Reina from AC Milan.
Smith has been forced to make all three moves following injuries to John McGinn, Tom Heaton and Wesley which have threatened to be Villa’s undoing.
Next up for Villa is Saturday’s trip to the Amex Stadium to take on Graham Potter’s Brighton, who sit 14th, but just three points better off than Smith’s men.
Villa came out on top when the teams met at Villa Park in December, with Jack Grealish and Matt Targett on the scoresheet as they took all three points late on.
Ahead of the game, Villa will be pressing on to seal more January deals, with Galatasaray loanee Steven Nzonzi eyeing a potential switch after a fallout in Istanbul.
Hull’s Jarrod Bowen had been seen as another possible option to bolster Villa’s frontline, but his £20m price tag may be too high.
