Exclusive: Aston Villa Confident They Can Beat Manchester United to Sign Belgium Wonderkid Zeno Debast

Aston Villa are quietly confident they can win the battle to sign Belgium wonderkid Zeno Debast, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal.

The Premier League side have been tracking the highly sought-after centre-back, capped 22 times for his country, for the past year.

And even though this week Manchester United were heavily linked with the talented 21-year-old, Villa believe they have the pulling power to attract former Anderlecht defender Debast to Villa Park when the January transfer window opens.

Villa boss Unai Emery swopped to sign Nice striker Evann Guessand for £26m plus £4.3m in add-ons before the summer transfer window shut.

But the Ivory Coast international was the only big-money signing the club made, with Spanish boss Emery opting for clever loan deals and a marquee free signing to strengthen their squad as the club look to build on last season’s impressive sixth place Premier League finish and also reaching Champions League quarter-final.

Experienced Sweden international Victor Lindelof, 34, joined as a free agent having been released by United, while midfielder Jadon Sancho joined on loan from the Red Devils.

BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS

Emery also persuaded England and Liverpool midfielder Harvey to join and buy into his blueprint for success this season.

But it is in centre defence that Emery is still keen to strengthen, especially with England centre-back Ezri Konsa having been liked with a big-money move away.

Villa also have the experienced Tyrone Mings to cover in central defence, but Emery is keen to bolster at the back as the club look to fight on lots of different fronts, especially in the Champions League because of their top-eight finish last season.

Debast is widely-regarded as one of the most exciting centre-backs  in world football, with Premier League champions Liverpool and Bayern Munich also rumoured to be interested in his services.

However, Villa are confident they can beat any of their rivals in a bid to land the player when the next transfer window.

Debast has four years left on his contract with Portuguese club Sporting CP, but his rumoured £30million is unlikely to be a problem for Villa who have spent diligently in the market this summer.