Villa sign Lindelof & near Elliott and Sancho loans

Aston Villa have signed former Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof on a two-year contract and are closing in on loan deals for Harvey Elliott and Jadon Sancho.

Sweden captain Lindelof, 31, was a free agent, with his United contract having expired at the end of last season.

United winger Sancho, 25, turned down a move to Roma earlier in the window, while there has also been interest from fellow Italian side Juventus.

Liverpool's 22-year-old midfielder Elliott, meanwhile, is nearing a move which includes an obligation to buy for £35m.

Both Sancho and Elliott are now at Villa to complete medicals and the formalities of their loan moves.

United sources say Aston Villa will pay 80% of Sancho's wages, while there are easily achievable bonuses which should bring the total up to 100%.

Sancho has spent the past 18 months on loan at Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea but neither club made the deal permanent.

Chelsea paid a £5m penalty to United for reneging on an obligation to sign the England attacker.

Elliott has played just once for Liverpool this season, making a one-minute appearance from the bench in their Premier League game against Newcastle.

In June, he said he does not want to be "wasting years" in his career and would consider his Liverpool future.

He was limited to 18 Premier League appearances as Liverpool won the title last season, 16 of them as a substitute.

In comparison, he made 53 appearances, including 27 starts, in the 2023-24 campaign when he scored four goals and provided 11 assists.

Elliott, in particular, is a real coup for Villa. He is very highly regarded at Liverpool but would have been short on game time.

He was player of the tournament when England won the European Under-21 Championship this summer, scoring five goals.

Bundesliga club RB Leipzig had a serious interest in taking him to Germany.

Sancho, as seems a regular occurrence, has a point to prove.

It remains to be seen whether this marks the end of Sancho's association with United.

The Red Devils have an option on Sancho's contract, which expires at the end of the season, to take it to 2027.

But what seemed such an exciting arrival from Dortmund after England's Euro 2020 final appearance has turned into a massive disappointment. He has made 83 United appearances but only one - in the 2024 Community Shield - since August 2023.

Prior to that, he missed three months after being sent away to train in the Netherlands by Erik ten Hag because he felt Sancho's mental and physical state was not right, with the pair having a public fall-out after Ten Hag criticised Sancho's training performances.

Sancho spent four months training on his own before he returned to Dortmund on loan, playing a significant role in their run to the Champions League final, where they were beaten by Real Madrid.

United's then sporting director Dan Ashworth brokered an uneasy peace between player and manager that allowed Sancho to go on last summer's tour to the USA and make a seven-minute Community Shield appearance.

But that was simply a sticking plaster being applied to a major wound.

Sancho wanted out of Old Trafford, and United did not want Sancho around either. Chelsea took him back to his south London roots, but that also failed to work out.