Aston Villa potentially signing Anwar El Ghazi for £8million represents a fine bit of business on their part.

According to The Guardian, Aston Villa will complete the signing of El Ghazi from Ligue 1 side Lille after triggering the option to buy the winger following his successful loan last season. The deal will reportedly cost around £8million, as agreed when he was taken on loan last August, which is fairly good going when you consider some the prices bandied around these days.

Just about any prodigy who emerges from De Toekomstis is tipped to great things, but an Outside of the Boot report from 2015 clearly identifies El Ghazi as one of the brightest talents Ajax had produced in recent years, paying particular attention to his ability to run at players and create problems and his “spectacular dribbling technique” - which has become obvious over the course of the campaign, with El Ghazi averaging 1.2 dribbles per game (the third most in Villa’s promotion-winning squad).

It’s absolutely paramount that Dean Smith finds the right balance when signing players this summer and nourishing already established ones, on Villa’s Premier League return. We’ve already seen Fulham fall victim to an overzealous transfer policy, which saw them recruit twelve new faces last summer to little effect, and evidently, that perhaps isn’t the way to go for teams aiming to survive.

That being said, El Ghazi really is a step in the right direction. Clearly a talent for the reasons we've already mentioned, he's established himself as a key player under Smith, scoring six goals for Villa last term, including the priceless first in the 2-1 Championship play-off final victory over Derby County.

Following the arrival of Jota from arch-rivals Birmingham City, preparation for the Premier League has clearly started nice and early for the Midlands giants.

Villa fans, how pleased are you at the idea of welcoming back El Ghazi? Do you think you’ve seen the best of him yet? Let us know in the comments below…