Unai Emery was asked about Aston Villa’s pursuit of João Palhinha during his latest press conference ahead of the UEFA Super Cup.

The Aston Villa boss refused to discuss the club’s interest in Palhinha in detail, but admitted that the Portuguese midfielder is attracting attention from several clubs.

Villa are believed to have held positive talks with Bayern Munich over a potential deal for Palhinha. However, the German giants reportedly want to find a permanent solution for the midfielder rather than sanction another loan move to the Premier League.

Palhinha spent last season on loan at Tottenham Hotspur, making 45 appearances across all competitions and scoring seven goals, including important strikes against Wolves and Everton as Spurs fought to avoid relegation.

“It’s difficult to focus on a game if we’re thinking about the players that can come,” Emery said when asked about Palhinha.

“In the final weeks of the transfer window, we are a club where players can still leave.

“I don’t want to talk about an individual player, but you ask about Palhinha and we all know him in the world of football. He’s a player who’s got a lot of interest from a number of teams.

“But for us, we’re going to concentrate on tomorrow’s match, which is important enough for us.

“I’m not going to speak more about players who could be available in the market, or those who could leave or join.”