Aston Villa launches bid for Belhanda

Montpellier president Louis Nicollin says Aston Villa are one of five clubs to have made a bid for creative midfielder Younes Belhanda.



The highly-rated Moroccan international has admitted he would like to move to England, and had been strongly linked with Arsenal and Tottenham in the past.



But Nicollin has now revealed that Villa are currently the only bidders from the English top flight for Belhanda, who is set to leave the Ligue 1 outfit a year after helping them lift the title. "He is leaving," Nicollin told LeSport10.



"There are four or five clubs that have come in. It is now down to the player to choose now because we are almost in agreement with the clubs. He will leave for 14-15 million euros." Asked if the offers were concrete, he replied: "Yes.



From AC Milan, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray and Aston Villa. "We have no problem now, he [Belhanda] has the authority to agree with whoever he wants now.



"Villa already have Belhanda's Moroccan international teammate Karim Al Ahmadi on their books and Paul Lambert is looking to add a creative spark to his side to play behind the striker.

Szczesny misses Montpellier tie

Wojciech Szczesny has been ruled out of Arsenal’s Champions League Group B opener in Montpellier.



Manager Arsene Wenger will turn to Vito Mannone for the tie as his first-choice goalkeeper is unavailable due to an ankle injury. James Shea will provide cover from Mannone on the bench.



“He was on the list as goalkeeper No 5 at the beginning of the season and now he is No 2!” Wenger said of Shea.



“That shows you how quickly football can change. Martinez is ineligible for the B list and Wojciech [Szczesny] and Fabianski are injured. So Mannone will play tomorrow.”



Szczesny featured in the 6-1 win over Southampton on Saturday but Wenger admits he did sustain the injury before kick-off.



“I don’t think [his injury was a factor in Saturday's performance]. He did it before the game. I am not sure how it affected the goal he conceded,” he added. “He says not but of course we had a question in our minds before the game: do we change him or not? We decided to leave him on.”