Villa closing in on Gil

Aston Villa are closing in on a deal for Valencia midfielder Carles Gil, according to the Mirror.

The Midlands side fell to a 1-0 defeat to Leicester City at the weekend to take their winless league run to six games, during which time they have scored just one goal.

Their tally of eleven strikes so far this season is seven fewer than Sunderland, who have scored the second fewest amount of league goals so far this season while their joint top scorers Gabriel Abonglahor and Andreas Weimann have a grand total of three each.

Manager Paul Lambert is keen to increase his attacking options this month and has identified Gil as the man to help turn the clubs fortunes around.

The 22 year old returned to Valencia in the summer having spent the last two seasons on loan at Elche but has made just eight La Liga appearances so far this season.