Newcastle United transfer target wants to complete move this week as Aston Villa table official bid

Moussa Diaby wants his future resolved before the weekend following bids from Aston Villa and Saudi Pro League side Al Ahil.

Both clubs have reportedly tabled a £43million bid for the French forward, which still falls short of Bayer Leverkusen’s £52m asking price. But Diaby is keen to have something in place before the weekend when the Bundesliga outfit travel to Austria for a pre-season training camp.

Newcastle United have held a long-term interest in Dibay after he first popped up on their radar last year. A club-record move was supposedly weighed up last summer before the Magpies recruited Alexander Isak for £60million instead.

Diaby has remained under consideration but Leverkusen’s price tag has saw United favour a move for Leicester City star Harvey Barnes at a reduced price amid Financial Fair Play restrictions.

Villa are prepared to break their transfer record for the 24-year-old, who was on the books at Paris Saint-Germain when Unai Emery was manager between 2016 and 2018.

While Villa will undoubtedly offer a lucrative salary package, Al Ahil will likely offer more. The Saudi club are one of four Pro League teams 75 per-cent owned by Newcastle United majority owners the Public Investment Fund.

Since PIF gained a stake at Al Ahil, Al Nassr, Al Ittihad and Al Hilal, some of football’s most reputable names such as Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Ruben Neves and Roberto Firmino have left Europe for the Middle East.

Diaby scored nine goals and registered the same number of assists in 33 league games last season. In his 172 matches since joining Bayer from PSG in four years ago, the winger has an impressive output of 49 goals and 48 assists.

The France international is under contract at the Bundesliga club until 2025.