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Aston Villa are reportedly in the race to sign Valencia midfielder Carles Gil in a £4m deal.

Elche, Espanyol and Cordoba are also interested in the 22-year-old attacking midfielder.

Every link in January should be taken with a bucket of salt in the early stages, let alone a pinch.

Now, the obvious question is, who is he?

A reasonable question, here's the lowdown.

* Born in Valencia

* 5 ft 7" tall

* He is a product of the Valencia B side and broke into the first team in 2012

* He has spent most of his career playing for neighbours Elche between 2012-2014

* He returned to the Valencia team in August of last year in a 3-0 win over Malaga

* He scored his first league goal for his in September against Real Sociedad.

* He has one cap for the Spanish under-21 side

* So far he has played 75 career games, scored 6 goals and registered 10 assists.

* Last year he was linked with a £6m move to Everton

* He played with Carlos Sanchez at Elche

* The Bleacher Report described him as follows:

"An adventurous, inventive, 5'7" two-footed right attacking midfielder, who can also play as a deep-lying forward behind the No. 9.

"By constantly zipping past opposing players in confined spaces,Gil creates the optical illusion that the ball is stuck to his feet.

"He swivels drastically in a variety of directions and his unpredictability throws off many opposing markers."

* He could be a risk, the same website says that he is a midfielder with no end product and with a poor goal ratio he has a habit of 'fluffing his lines'.

HOWEVER: We say ignore the Bleacher Report - this You Tube skills reel shows a very able and tricky little player.

Skills reel