5 hours ago
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Aston Villa and Brighton are following highly rated attacking midfielder Rodolfo Aloko from Croatian side NK Kustosija.
The athletic 18-year-old was called up to the national team of Benin last month to make his debut against Morocco and is already drawing attention from the likes of Sevilla, Eintracht Frankfurt and Red Bull Leipzig.
Kustosija, based in Zagreb, are forging a strong reputation for finding promising young talents, developing them and selling on at a profit.
They have just agreed to sell coveted 18-year-old midfielder Lovro Chelfi to Barcelona - a player who had attracted interest from Arsenal and Liverpool - and, previously, sold defender Mika Faye, now at Rennes, also to Barcelona.
MLS side Charlotte also snapped up their 16-year-old striker Leo Bartolovic for £450,000 and 18-year-old Malian midfielder Baye Coulibaly followed the same path for £1.5million plus a 25 per cent sell-on.
Another teenage striker Dino Klapija, a target for Arsenal and Manchester United, joined Leipzig for £4.5m.
Aston Villa and Brighton are following highly rated attacking midfielder Rodolfo Aloko
The forward is the latest in a string of impressive finds to come out of Croatian side Kustosija
Unai Emery's Aston Villa are among the sides following Aloko's progress, along with fellow Premier League outfit Brighton
Kustosija are now willing to repeat the process with Aloko.
They want around £4.75m for Aloko, who has impressed scouts previously while playing for Benin U20s, and believe his pace and power make him well suited to the Premier League.
Villa and Brighton both have a similar reputation for finding young talents to develop and Aloko is on their radar.
Mail Sport's TRANSFER CONFIDENTIAL column reported on Tuesday that Brighton's Adam Webster had previously been of interest to Everton, but now that Michael Keane has signed a new deal, a £10m deal will likely not happen.
The Toffees are also keen on a move for Scotland international midfielder John McGinn, though that deal is viewed as remote.
