Aston Villa face Rory Wilson blow as clock ticks down on key transfer date

Aston Villa are determined to secure Rory Wilson's future on a new and improved contract, but the highly-rated striker is yet to pen fresh terms.

It is understood Villa have submitted several five-year contract offers to Wilson, who has less than 12 months remaining on his current deal. The 18-year-old joined Villa from Rangers in the summer of 2022 and is regarded as one of the club's most promising youngsters.

He bagged 51 goals at youth level for the Scottish giants before his move south of the border. Wilson then scored 15 goals for Villa's under-18s and under-21s in 2022/23, before bagging another 19 last term. He also made his Scotland under-21 debut in October last year after impressing for his nation in younger age groups.

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Wilson has no shortage of interest with at least 15 clubs believed to be keeping tabs on his future. If Villa fail to pin him down to a new contract and he leaves to a foreign club, they'd receive a small compensation payment.

Villa would be entitled to €270,000 if a foreign category one academy club signed him, paid in three instalments of €90,000. A category two academy club would pay a total of €160,000.

As Wilson's deal runs out next summer, clubs would be able to negotiate terms with him from January 1, four days before he turns 19 years of age. The price Villa would take in if Wilson left would be substantially less than what they paid for the forward two years ago.

He is yet to make his senior debut and did not feature in Unai Emery's first-team pre-season earlier this summer.