Greek outlet Contra are reporting that Sky Bet Championship side Aston Villa are eyeing up a deal to sign PAOK striker Stefanos Athanasiadis this summer.
The 28-year-old is a product of the youth set up at PAOK in the Greek top flight, and with the exception of a loan move to Panserraikos in 2009, where he scored 5 goals in 23 appearances, he has been at PAOK his whole career.
He has scored 71 goals in 208 games in his career at the Greek club, and is the clubs captain following a long and successful career with ‘The Black and Whites’ spanning 10 years.
However, last season wasn’t so successful for the Greek international, who has 12 caps for his national side.
Unfortunately, the 28-year-old failed to score in any of his 23 appearances in the Greek league, and scored just 2 goals for the duration of the season, bagging a brace against Slovan Liberec in the Europa League, which makes the supposed interest very surprising.
Villa already have Jonathan Kodjia, Ross McCormick (who is set to return from a loan deal with Nottingham Forest), Scott Hogan, and Gabriel Agbonlahor as attacking options, but Steve Bruce reportedly wants to add to his attacking ranks, with the Greek target man next on the radar.
Villa will undoubtedly want to improve on what was a deeply disappointing season last time out, where they finished 13th in the Championship following their relegation from the Premier League, and will undoubtedly be targeting automatic promotion this time round.
Villa begin their campaign with an opening day clash against recently relegated Hull City at home.