Joao Gomes won’t be joining Newcastle - Aston Villa strike surprise deal on Thursday

Aston Villa are on a roll as they move to sign another reported Newcastle United target.

After beating Newcastle to the signing of Johan Manzambi, Aston Villa are now closing in on the signing of Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Joao Gomes.

Newcastle were recently linked with the Brazilian as a potential alternative to Johan Manzambi, but that option is now off the table.

Fabrizio Romano announced a 'here we go' on Thursday morning, stating a £38 million deal has been agreed.

Joao Gomes is heading to Villa

Meanwhile, Birmingham Live has provided more detail, saying that Gomes has left Wolves' Portuguese training camp and is heading to Birmingham to complete the deal.

Amadou Onana suffered an ACL injury, and Aston Villa have moved swiftly to make sure the effects of his absence are minimised.

Newcastle, on the other hand, sold Sandro Tonali 10 days ago in a planned move, and they still haven't found a replacement.

Those UEFA restrictions are going well

Bearing in mind here that Aston Villa are under the strictest of strict restrictions for their transfer activity after breaching UEFA's rules twice and being slapped with massive fines, and yet they're still able to move in the market and beat Newcastle to signings.

I don't like this argument that Newcastle are slow in the market and it allows other clubs to beat us to players, but honestly, the evidence is overwhelming.

I understand that Aston Villa are a more attractive prospect right now after winning the Europa League and qualifying for the Champions League after also finishing fourth in the Premier League last season, but what are Newcastle doing?

There's still a good chance that Newcastle are working on deals away from the media, and we could see a couple more surprises like the Sean Steur move, but right now, the optics are rotten.