Villa are closing in on Barcelona winger Adama Traore

The winger is not yet at the club to put the finishing touches to the deal, but could be a Villa player by the time they face Manchester United in the Premier League on Friday.

Stoke were also interested in the 19-year-old but Villa are now understood to be in pole position.

Traore has been a long-term target of boss Tim Sherwood, who refused to discuss any deal last week.

He said: "He's a good player, but at the moment he's a Barcelona player." Traore, a Spain Under-19 international, has risen through the ranks at the Nou Camp and would offer Sherwood further attacking options.

He would become his 10th signing of the summer should the deal go through as Sherwood continues a summer revamp in the wake of the exits of Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Ron Vlaar.

The boss had suggested he would target English players after raiding France for Jordan Veretout, Jordan Amavi and Jordan Ayew, but instead Spaniard Traore is close to joining.

England winger Aaron Lennon, who had a loan stint at Everton last season, is also a potential signing with the winger on the fringes at Tottenham.

Meanwhile, Jack Grealish and Carles Gil are back in training but unlikely to face the Red Devils in Villa's home opener.

Grealish picked up a hamstring injury during the pre-season tour of Portugal while Gil came off against Swindon with an ankle injury.

The former Valencia midfielder missed matches against Walsall, Wolves and Nottingham Forest with the troublesome issue.

And Sherwood is wary of bringing them back too soon because of the nature of their injuries.

The boss said: "Jack and Carles are training. They have had a few training sessions.

"But we don't want to push them back too early because they've had soft tissue injuries. We don't want them to reoccur.

"Once we get everyone fit and fighting for places, it gives us a lot of options to play different ways, which will be crucial."