---
title: "Aston Villa: Kalvin Phillips and Yves Bissouma decision looms"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/aston-villa-kalvin-phillips-and-yves-bissouma-decision-looms/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "David Comerford"
section: "Aston Villa News"
published: "2022-04-09T19:40:50Z"
modified: "2022-04-09T19:40:50Z"
---

# Aston Villa: Kalvin Phillips and Yves Bissouma decision looms

**Transfer insider Dean Jones expects Aston Villa to sign either Kalvin Phillips or Yves Bissouma this summer.**

### The lowdown

According to [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/apr/08/steven-gerrard-aston-villa-captain-news), Gerrard is keen to add a defensive midfielder to his ranks, as well as a striker.

And [The Times](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kalvin-phillips-aston-villa-lead-race-for-60m-leeds-united-midfielder-h3f0fqsws) recently reported that Villa are ‘leading the race’ to sign Phillips from Leeds United.

They’re apparently willing to break their transfer record with a £60million swoop for the Englishman.

[Football Insider](https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-aston-villa-make-move-to-sign-yves-bissouma-after-huge-nassef-sawiris-vow/), meanwhile, claimed this week that Villa had been in contact with Bissouma’s camp ahead of the transfer window.

They allegedly made a ‘£20million-plus’ bid in January, which was rejected by Brighton.

\[freshpress-quiz id=”389386″\]

### The latest

Speaking to [GiveMeSport](https://www.givemesport.com/87992973-aston-villa-to-go-for-110m-pl-duo-but-gerrard-will-only-sign-one), Jones said Villa could submit bids for both players but will ultimately only sign one of them.

“I think they’ll go for both players, but I only expect them to sign one,” he said. “I’ll be very surprised if they got both of those players through the door.”

\[freshpress-poll id=”392986″\]

### The verdict

If Villa were to see bids accepted for both players, who should they prioritise?

Intriguingly, the duo are of somewhat different moulds. Phillips, described as a [‘quarterback’](https://motleedsnews.com/news/ferdinand-praises-leeds-united-quarterback-kalvin-phillips/) by Rio Ferdinand, likes to launch long passes from deep, averaging [3.3](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/270446/Show/Kalvin-Phillips) a game to [Bissouma’s 1.9](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/303096/Show/Yves-Bissouma).

So Villa need to choose a stylistic direction, with Bissouma more of a defensive mind with the [fourth-most tackles per game](https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/8618/Stages/19793/PlayerStatistics/England-Premier-League-2021-2022) in the division, but there’s also a financial calculation to be made.

If Phillips is to cost as much as £60million, might it be more prudent to pursue Bissouma, who is out of contract in 14 months’ time, putting Brighton in a [fairly weak negotiating position](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/yves-bissouma/profil/spieler/410425).

Signing the Malian could leave Villa with considerably more to spend on the striker position.

**In other news, [this Villa star is attracting interest from Arsenal](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/aston-villa-news/aston-villa-arsenal-interested-in-ezri-konsa/).**