Rumours are abound that talented Turkish front man Sanli Tuncay is set to sign from Middlesbrough in a £7m deal. The former Fenerbahce striker was in superb form last season despite Gareth Southgate's side being relegated from the Premier League.
Tuncay will definitely have impressed Martin O'Neill as he netted not once, not twice, but three times against the Villa.
He destroyed his potential suitors at Villa Park, with two poachers finishes, and then struck an acrobatic scissor kick as the Claret and Blue drew 1-1 at the Riverside.
O'Neill was on Teeside for the Friday night Championship clash between Boro and Sheffield United but Tuncay did not play.
He was laid low with tonsillitis but it is thought that the Villa boss was tying up a deal regardless whilst also casting his eye over star defender David Wheater.
Should Tuncay and Wheater make moves to the Midlands this summer they will complete a hat-trick of buys from Boro after Stewart Downing joined in July.
And it would also signal a quite ironic turnaround involving transfers between the clubs as not so many years ago Southgate, Ugo Ehiogu and George Boateng moved to the Riverside in search of trophies.