Aston Villa star Conor Hourihane set to join Swansea on loan transfer with medical delayed until later in week
CONOR HOURIHANE has agreed to join Swansea on loan from Aston Villa.
The Ireland midfielder, 29, told Dean Smith he was desperate to play first team football.
And high-flying Championship side Swansea have a deal in place for Hourihane to join them for the rest of the season.
The temporary switch could be announced by Steve Cooper’s side as early as Wednesday.
But, because of Swansea’s postponed league game at Blackburn due to a waterlogged pitch, a medical is not expected in the next 24 hours with staff already in the north-west.
Hourihane has only made five appearances for Villa this season.
His game time has been limited due to the stand out displays of Douglas Luiz and John McGinn in central midfield.
Elsewhere, Villa are in the race to sign Marseille midfielder Morgan Sanson.
Arsenal and West Ham are also said to be keen.
The central midfielder has 18 months remaining on his contract and manager Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed the interest from Premier League clubs.
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Villas-Boas told reporters: "We'll see. The transfer window is open, Sanson is a player who is highly rated.
"Officially, we have not received any offers, unless it happened during the match.
"He is a boy who interests English teams because of his characteristics, and it is possible that something could happen."
French television programme Telefoot have also reported that Sanson is engaged in transfer talks with an unspecified English club over a January switch.
But Villa boss Smith says Hourihane’s loan move to Swansea City doesn’t guarantee Sanson is on his way to Villa Park.
Villa’s Danish sporting director Johan Lange is an expert bargain hunter and the collapse of French football’s TV deal has seen Marseille slash £20million off 26-year-old Sanson’s value.
Smith never discusses transfer targets and sidestepped questions about Sanson at his pre-Manchester City press conference.
The Villa boss said: “There’s a lot of players that I like but I never name-check players that are associated with other football clubs.
“I’ve always said that this is going to be a quiet window for us. Our plans are already looking forward to the summer window and what we’re going to do there.
“But we’re never going to turn our noses up at a good value deal to bring a player in.
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"There’s the possibility of some outs and, although personally I would have liked Conor Hourihane to stay, we spoke and I understand his desire to start every week.
"But we have John McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Ross Barkley, Jacob Ramsey among others who are fighting for the same places.”