Aston Villa agree to sign Bayer Leverkusen winger Leon Bailey for £30m and will make another effort to bring in James Ward-Prowse as they look to cope with expected departure of Jack Grealish to Manchester City

• Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sign Bayer Leverkusen's Leon Bailey for £30m 
• Villa will also step up pursuit of James Ward-Prowse after having a bid rejected 
• Villa are looking to strengthen to cope with Jack Grealish's expected departure 

Aston Villa have won the race to sign Bayer Leverkusen star Leon Bailey, as the club prepares a hasty rebuild ahead of the pending £100m sale of Jack Grealish.

Villa and German club Leverkusen have agreed a deal worth around £30million.

The Jamaica international is heading to Birmingham to finalise personal terms and undergo a medical.

Bailey, who enjoyed four-anda- half seasons at Leverkusen, had been on the radar of a number of Premier League clubs including Liverpool.

The 23-year-old winger has just enjoyed his best-ever Bundesliga season with nine goals and nine assists, but Leverkusen were willing to sell this summer after their failure to qualify for the Champions League.

Bailey had last week revealed in a TV interview that he was ready to sever his relationship with the Bundesliga club.

‘One hundred per cent I’m totally ready for the next step,’ he said. ‘I feel like I’m at a point in my life where I’m ready.’

Bailey’s imminent arrival follows the news that Villa have recieved a record-breaking transfer bid from Manchester City for England star Grealish.

Villa are yet to formally respond to City’s offer but it is understood they are willing to allow their captain to leave.

It would be for the biggest transfer fee in British history, eclipsing the £89m Manchester United paid Juventus for Paul Pogba five years ago. 

Villa boss Dean Smith had already captured Emi Buendia from Norwich for a club-record £33m but will be under enormous pressure to bring in more new faces given the hole Grealish leaves behind. 

An offer of £25million for England international James Ward-Prowse was rejected last week but they remain undeterred and will make another concerted effort to sign the 26-year-old in the coming days. 

They also want Norwich’s Todd Cantwell — it’s claimed the club are in ‘talks’ about a £20m deal.

Bailey, who was named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season for 2017-18, has been targeted to bring an injection of pace to Villa’s attack. Since the start of the 2016-17 season, the wideman has played 119 games, scored 28 goals, supplied 18 assists and created 178 chances.

Villa’s head of recruitment Robert Mackenzie will have helped engineer the move having been on the Tottenham staff in 2015 when they snared Son Heung-min.

Grealish was a notable absentee as Villa won 3-0 in a preseason friendly at Bristol City yesterday. Teenager Jaden Philogene-Bidace opened the scoring by tapping home Ollie Watkins’ cross.

A goalkeeping error by Dan Bentley produced Villa’s second goal when he spilled John McGinn’s free kick and Ezri Konsa prodded home.

Watkins headed Villa’s third after an hour following a fine cross from Anwar El Ghazi.

Villa are in the process of losing captain Jack Grealish to Manchester City after they triggered his £100m clause and have been trying to strengthen their squad to cope with his departure.

An offer of £25million for England international Ward-Prowse was rejected last week but they remain undeterred and will make another concerted effort to sign the 26-year-old in the coming days.

Villa also want Norwich City's Todd Cantwell.

Cantwell possesses prior Premier League experience having featured for Norwich in the top flight during the 2019-20 campaign. 

Earlier in the transfer window Villa brought in Emiliano Buendia from Norwich.

In addition Ashley Young returned to the club after leaving AC Milan.