Indeed, it’s likely one of the reasons he’s now at Aston Villa. Pretty much ostracised at AS Roma after months of issues, which certainly weren’t all of his own making, Zaniolo was sold to Galatasaray.

That then saw his summer move to Aston Villa, in a deal which is initially a loan but expected to be turned into a permanent transfer.

The recent gambling drama in Italian football inevitably involved Zaniolo, but his insistence that he only gambled on non-football related issues, and no evidence suggesting otherwise, has seen him escape a ban.

Italy’s latest Zaniolo drama is claiming he’s been prepared to move to Napoli in the past, and therefore an insinuation that he could in the future.

Experienced journalist Claudio Vigorelli is covered by AreaNapoli, and it’s stated the idea of a move to Napoli ‘did not displease’ Zaniolo or his family.

The player’s family are often featured in the Italian media and believed to have a big say on his career.

Regardless of all of that, it’s Aston Villa who hold the power for now, even if the Italian media are keen on another drama.

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He had been left out of that Brazil squad despite his great form, and made it rather clear that it had affected him by pointing out in his post that he was of Brazilian nationality and was ‘calm, calm’ about the situation.

The Aston Villa midfielder has since been called up by Diniz for the latest international break, and has now apologised for his social media outburst in an interview with ESPN Brasil.

Asked about it, he said: “It was something a little hasty. I’m not the type of player to say a lot, but at that moment, I really deserved it. But not everything happens in our own time. Sometimes we work, things don’t happen the way we want and we get a little frustrated.”

Even though he was called up to the Brazil squad for the last round of fixtures in the World Cup qualifiers, Luiz only played a total of 20 minutes, first coming on for eight minutes in the 2-1 loss against Colombia before adding an extra 12 to that in the 1-0 defeat at the hands of arch rivals Argentina.

Despite the results, the Aston Villa star admitted he was ‘happy to be back’, and would continue to work hard to ensure he doesn’t fall out of favour again, especially with an aim of playing in the 2026 World Cup.

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That’s according to AS, who cover the forward’s renewal today and how it is only a temporary reprieve from the ongoing transfer speculation.

The newspaper details how there is finally ‘white smoke in San Mamés’ in regard to Williams, who the club have been pushing to get signed to a new deal for months.

His last contract only ran until the summer and that had led to natural speculation about his future, with a host of clubs, including Aston Villa, believed to be circling.

He’s now ended that speculation by signing a new deal until 2027 but the agreement only ‘momentarily distances’ the rising star from the teams that wanted him, with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool and Aston Villa named specifically.

They’ve all seen the 21-year-old winger’s ‘unstoppable growth’ of late and wanted him, particularly as he was set to be available on a free in the summer.

That option has now been taken away but there is a sense, even in Spain, that the new contract is a temporary reprieve rather than anything permanent and he’ll still be a name to keep an eye on moving forwards.

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The Villans, through their official website, confirmed that the West Midlands Police advised them not to let the away fans into Villa Park, “following large-scale disorder”.

Aston Villa had initially allocated 1,002 tickets to Legia Warsaw fans, after a ‘disorder’ caused by the latter at AZ Alkmaar in October. Further violence involving the Polish club’s fans broke out in Birmingham yesterday and that saw them barred from entering the stadium.

It wasn’t just the fans, even Legia Warsaw staff were also stopped from entering Villa Park. That’s according to journalist Samuel Szczygielski, who told Meczyki.pl that the reactions were ‘brutal’.

“Legia employees were not allowed to enter the stadium and had to return to the hotel. It’s hard for me to describe what I saw. It was quite brutal from both the English fans and the police,” he said.

Legia Warsaw’s Paweł Wszołek was on the pitch for 82 minutes and after the tie he was highly critical of the Premier League side’s decision to not allow their supporters into the stadium.

The 31-year-old has revealed he had family and friends in England to watch the European clash and was puzzled with the step taken by Aston Villa.

“For me this is a huge scandal. Even more so because the families of many players and fans who are with us all over the world came here,” he told TVP Sport.

“We are talking about a tolerant country… The guys said that they were taking the Poles out of the stands, so you can answer the question yourself what this is all about.

“If the Premier League boasts it’s the best league in the world, we give them as many tickets as they want, and our fans cannot enter the stadium, it is incomprehensible to me. This is not what football should look like if it is repeated that football is for the fans.

“A huge scandal, but apparently this country has more power. It’s just incomprehensible to me.

“My brother or my friends’ families, they all had to buy tickets, take time off work, leave their children and they are standing in front of the stadium, freezing. I don’t know who should stand up for all this, but this is not a normal situation for me. Such things cannot happen nowadays.”

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That’s according to Sport 1, who say the ‘groundbreaking’ deal to sell Diaby to Aston Villa has proven to be a smart one for all involved.

The outlet explains how sporting director Simon Rolfes ‘silenced’ his critics after arriving a year and a half ago with the remit of turning the club’s fortunes around.

That seemed an impossible job, but he’s managed to do just that, reshaping the squad to suit manager Xabi Alonso, who now has them as one of the most exciting teams in Europe and challenging for the Bundesliga title.

To do the work he’s done he first had to sell players this summer, with Mitchel Bakker, Kerem Demirbay, Sardar Azmoun and Moussa Diaby all departing.

The latter moved to Aston Villa in a €55m deal and that one proved to be a ‘groundbreaking one’ as it provided Rolfes with a new transfer budget that allowed him to buy ‘everything his coach wanted’.

He brought in Granit Xhaka, Alejandro Grimaldo, Jonas Hoffman and Victor Boniface with the money brought in from Diaby’s sale to Aston Villa and they’ve proven to be ‘four absolute dream players’ for the club and Alonso.

Diaby, meanwhile, has established himself as a key player under Unai Emery and started in England where he left off in Germany so he’s undoubtedly happy with the move too.

All in all, it’s proven to be a deal that suited everyone involved, but particularly Leverkusen, who sold one player to fund the addition of four who have worked out as complete transfer hits for Rolfes.

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That wasn’t the case earlier on in the campaign, when the midfielder, who had arrived on a free from Leicester, was struggling to convince Unai Emery to use him, clearly frustrating the player in the process.

All has now changed, however, with RTBF covering the Belgium star, pointing out that the Aston Villa star has ‘found his smile again’.

This comes at a time when the whole of the Villa Park club are on a high, as they currently sit fourth in the Premier League, are well on course to qualify from the Conference League group and have the entire FA Cup to play for.

Tielemans is playing more despite a ‘false start’ to his season, with him spending more time on the bench than off it for a period of time, but that ‘mental block’ is now slowly being broken, as the Aston Villa signing finds his feet at his new club.

This was also on display during the international break, where the local media were delighted to once again see the player they once knew.

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Aston Villa returned to European competition after more than a decade and the 59-year-old has cited this as the reason for losing to the Polish club. The two teams will face again at Villa Park on Thursday.

Teale insists Aston Villa have been constantly developing since Unai Emery arrived at the club a year ago.

Emery’s side are second in the table, level on points with Legia Warszawa, and a win later today would put them in a comfortable position to finish the group on top. In the Premier League, they are in fourth spot, trailing leaders Arsenal by two points.

Teale, who was at Aston Villa between 1991 and 1995, is concerned Emery doesn’t have a strong enough squad to compete in both the league and Europe. He made this claim when asked if the Villans can win the Conference League this season.

“The chances are high. The problem is the demands of the Premier League. It’s a very difficult league,” he said.

“Emery cannot rely on the strongest squad in every match. The trainer has to rotate, which is a big problem. It will look like this until the decisive matches in Europe, although on Thursday he will not try anything because he needs to be sure that he will win.

“I think there will be eight basic players from the starting eleven, who mainly play in the Premier League. The coach will allow slightly older players to rest, although a lot will depend on the players’ health.”

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He eventually found a landing spot outside of England, where Valencia’s B team, more commonly as Valencia Mestalla, decided to give him a chance.

The 21-year-old has taken time to adapt to his new surroundings since his Aston Villa exit, but Super Deporte report on his most recent game, explaining the player is now showing his ‘first sparks’ for the Spanish team.

He scored in the 2-0 win over Southampton’s U21s in what was match day three of the Premier League International cup.

Played in Totton, the game and subsequent result ensured Valencia Mestalla still stood a chance of qualifying for the quarter finals, as long as they can beat Chelsea and other scores go their way.

The game was a tight affair, only to be decided in the last portion of the game, as the former Aston Villa man bagged the team’s second, which so happened to also be his second of the competition.

Whether the Villans will end up regretting letting Frith go, only time will tell, but he is starting to show what he is capable of in Spain, and that can only be good for him, and Valencia, of course.

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They have nine points from their first three games, having lost to the Polish side on the first match day, but many see them as the favourites to lift the trophy.

One of those is KRC Genk captain Bryan Heynen, who was speaking to Firenze Viola in Italy ahead of his side’s clash against Fiorentina, one of last season’s finalists.

He replied: “Fiorentina have more or less the same squad as last year, so they remain a fearsome formation. Although this year, I see Aston Villa more than any other as the favourites to win the trophy. Ours, on the other hands, is a very balanced group. Fiorentina, Ferencvaros and us, for what is the overall potential, deserve to play in the Europa League.”

Aside from the Conference League, Aston Villa are also in great form in the Premier League, where they currently sit third after this weekend’s win over Tottenham.

Unai Emery has transformed the Villa Park team since his arrival, taking huge strides towards what many hope will be silverware at some point.

Whether that is Aston Villa lifting the Conference League like West Ham did last year, though, remains to be seen.

Their next game in the European competition comes on Thursday night against Legia Warszawa, which could end up being crucial when it comes to deciding who finishes top of the group.

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That’s according to journalist Florian Plettenberg, who says Leverkusen are gearing up for one of their star men to depart in the coming months.

Frimpong has been starring since joining Leverkusen in an €11m deal from Celtic in January 2021, establishing himself as one of the rising stars in the Bundesliga.

He’s been particularly shining since the arrival of Xabi Alonso as Leverkusen manager, with 13 goals and 16 assists in 53 games so far playing as a flying full-back in the Spaniard’s attack minded system.

That’s seen him consistently linked with a move away from the club, with several sides in the Premier League keeping an eye and seemingly keen to move for him.

Aston Villa were the last to be linked in October, with a report from Germany indicating that they were watching him and considering a move to reunite him with former teammate Moussa Diaby.

Plettenberg doesn’t confirm their interest today but does explain that Leverkusen ‘expect him to leave’ in 2024 because the 22-year-old is ‘very keen on a transfer’ away from the Bundesliga.

The defender has a €40m release clause in his current contract for next summer, a figure which will likely start to look like a bargain given he has six goals and seven assists in 17 games in the league already this year.

Whether Aston Villa move for him and solidify their interest remains to be seen but the opportunity is certainly there according to Plettenberg’s latest information.

News Jeremie #Frimpong: Leverkusen expect him to leave the club in 2024. The 22 y/o is also very keen on a transfer.

He has a release clause of €40m in the summer!

Incredible season again. Best Bundesliga right winger/right-back at the moment: 6 goals and 7 assists in… pic.twitter.com/TSAKKng25x

— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) November 28, 2023

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