Aston Villa are close to signing Marseille midfielder Boubacar Kamara on a five-year contract.
The 22-year old has agreed to join Villa ahead of interest from Atletico Madrid after a concerted effort from manager Steven Gerrard and his staff to convince the France U21 international his future lay in the Premier League.
Kamara is out of contract this summer and had plenty of interest but ultimately has opted to sign for Gerrard, following on the heels of Villa's £17million permanent deal for Philippe Coutinho.
Villa also want free agent Burnley centre back James Tarkowski and have agreed a deal with Hearts for Scotland youth international midfielder Ewan Simpson, 15.
It comes after Kamara confirmed at the weekend he would be leaving the Ligue 1 side for pastures new.
'I've made my decision, which is to not renew and to leave OM at the end of this season. I think it's the best decision for the next part of my career,' he said.
'I'm at a point in my career where I want to progress, to discover a new challenge, a new league. I've chosen my future club, you'll find out who it is soon.'
Gerrard then teased the signing after seeing his side throw away a 2-0 goal lead to lose 3-2 at subsequent champions Manchester City on the final day of the season.
'We have an interest,' the former midfielder said. 'It is not the time to discuss future acquisitions or targets.
'I think you will see very soon there has been work in the background in terms of where we want to take this team. We need to make some changes in the right areas to support them best players we have.'
