Aston Villa make their second signing of the January transfer window by completing a deal for Levante defender Andres Garcia.

Right-back arrives from Levante for undisclosed fee

A look ahead to Aston Villa's first meeting with eight-time French Champions

Napoli hoping to reach agreement for Alejandro Garnacho, West Ham rebuffed by Aston Villa in Jhon Duran chase, Manchester United in talks to sign Patrick Dorgu from Lecce, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti set to leave in the summer, plus more.

Aston Villa completed the signing of forward Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund for £21million less than eight months after he helped the German club reach the Champions League final

Former Leicester midfielder has proved sceptics wrong with displays that are central to Unai Emery’s transformation Some things simply meet expectations, others catch us cold, take us by pleasant surprise. Aston Villa have made a habit of doing the latter over the past couple of years. Take the supporters who ended up slurping a pre‑match pint and talking double pivots with the Prince of Wales in the Wetherspoon’s at Birmingham New Street in the hours before they travelled to the win at Everton last week, after the royal Villa fan attended an inaugural critical‑care conference in the city. Nobody envisaged Unai Emery transforming Villa in double-quick time, to the point where a victory in Monaco on Tuesday will put them on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League last 16 in their first season back on this stage for 41 years. There were plenty of sceptics when the Villa manager plucked Morgan Rogers out of the Championship 12 months ago but he has proved a revelation, one of the Premier League’s best performers this season, repeatedly leaving opponents in a tailspin. And few predicted Youri Tielemans would return to the peak of his powers after signing on a free 18 months ago. Continue reading...

Aston Villa unhappy with timing of the offer£100m-valued striker signed new deal in October Aston Villa have rejected a second bid from West Ham for Jhon Durán out of hand, with Villa adamant the striker, who they value at about £100m, is not for sale. Duran signed a new contract until 2030 in October last year. Villa are thought to be livid at the timing of the offer from West Ham, who are not expected to return with another bid after Villa made their position clear on Durán. Continue reading...

The Hammers are long-term admirers of the 21-year-old striker who recently signed a new deal at Villa Park but remains second choice to Ollie Watkins

Manager previews penultimate Champions League fixture

Michael Bridge and Dharmesh Sheth provide an update on Jhon Durans possible move to West Ham after the Hammers put in a £57m bid for the Aston Villa striker.

Images from training at Bodymoor Heath and departure from Birmingham Airport

A growing number of well-run clubs have shown what can be achieved by recruiting smartly and playing to a systemSign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here This is not 2015-16, when Leicester City won the league, but this season does share certain similarities. After 22 games of that season, Arsenal topped the table on goal difference from Leicester with Manchester City a point back and Tottenham four behind them. It was the following weekend that Leicester began to take control of the league, as they beat Stoke, Manchester City drew at West Ham and Arsenal lost at home to Chelsea. Wins over Manchester City and Liverpool in their following two games consolidated a lead that they never surrendered. It’s not to diminish Leicester’s achievement to point out that they benefited from a number of elite sides having disappointing seasons: Arsenal came second with only 71 points. The theory then was that the general wealth of the Premier League – the fact that, to use Deloitte’s figures from 2024, Aston Villa, Brighton, Fulham, Leeds, Crystal Palace and Everton are among the 30 wealthiest clubs in the world by revenue – meant that the elite were facing too consistent a challenge for 85-plus points in a season to be a viable target every year. A flourishing middle class, the thought ran, had helped equalise the league, at least at its top end. Continue reading...

Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Celtic feature in new Champions League format; 36 teams form a single league, with each entrant playing eight different clubs, four at home and four away; the top eight sides will qualify automatically for the last 16

William Saliba's hamstring strain has given Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta a fresh injury headache to contend with during a hectic and potentially decisive spell of fixtures