Aston Villa are in the running to sign Yannick Carrasco from Atletico Madrid, according to Spanish publication Sport. 

The lowdown

The transfer window may not officially open until Friday, but Villa have already got a head-start in Steven Gerrard's first summer market in the Midlands.

They have signed Philippe Coutinho permanently for £18m following his loan move from Barcelona in the second half of last season, shelled out £27.8m on Sevilla centre-back Diego Carlos, brought in Boubacar Kamara on a free transfer and sealed a £3.15m deal for Robin Olsen (via Transfermarkt).

It now seems that Gerrard may have identified Carrasco as a candidate to be his fifth new arrival, with the Belgian playing most of his football this season on the left wing but also featuring on the right for Diego Simeone's side.

The 28-year-old, who is under contract at the Wanda Metropolitano for a further two years, is valued at £36m by Transfermarkt.

The latest

As per Sport, the noises from Atletico are that Carrasco may be one of the players who is sold in the summer transfer window.

Newcastle United have made him their 'main target', but two other Premier League sides have also been alerted.

One of them is Aston Villa, while Tottenham Hotspur are also said to be keen.

The verdict

Signing Carrasco, who was dubbed an 'extremely underrated' player by sports journalist Josh Bunting, would be another strong piece of business for Villa.

He has played 219 matches for Atletico, scoring 37 goals and laying on 39 assists, and he's also earned 55 caps for Belgium, currently ranked as the second-best international side on the planet.

Gerrard has already had the opportunity to watch Carrasco in the flesh, having travelled to Madrid for the second leg of Atletico's Champions League quarter-final tie against Manchester City in April.

He was apparently there scouting Geoffrey Kondogbia, but the Villa manager would have seen a tidy substitute performance from Carrasco, who won every duel and completed 11 out of 13 passes in his 21-minute cameo.

Perhaps it was on that night that he caught Gerrard's eye...

In other news, this journalist has dropped a big claim on Villa's pursuit of Calvin Bassey