EXCLUSIVE from Graeme Bailey Premier League sides Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Chelsea are in the mix for Strahinja Pavlovic as Brentford hold talks with the PS25 million-rated Red Bull Salzburg defender.

A Salzburg side who sold the likes of Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane, Takumi Minamino, Benjamin Sesko and Dominik Szoboszlai for huge profits in recent windows could be in line for another big windfall.

HITC understands that Strahinja Pavlovic, a PS6 million signing from Monaco in the summer of 2022, could depart the Austrian giants for a substantially larger fee over the coming months.

Aston Villa are interested.

A left-sided centre-half appears to be a priority for Unai Emery's side, having lost Clement Lenglet following the expiry of his loan deal. Villa have also looked at Feyenoord's David Hancko and Mario Hermoso, the free-agent who's Atletico Madrid contract ran out on Sunday.

HITC have been told that Fulham, Wolves, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest are also pursuing the 23-year-old Pavlovic.

Pavlovic might also replace captain Max Kilman should he end up at Wolves. Kilman is reportedly closing in on a PS40 million move to West Ham United.

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Brentford, however, appear to have stolen a march on their Premier League rivals.

Thomas Frank's side have spoken to Pavlovic's camp, while Chelsea, Villa and co are being kept informed of the situation by the defender's representatives.

Capped 38 times by Serbia already, Pavlovic started all three of Serbia's games during their group-stage exit from Euro 2024.

The 6ft 4ins giant started his career at Partizan Belgrade before moving to Monaco. He struggled for opportunity in France, however, spending time out on loan at Cercle Brugge and Basel before enjoying a new lease of life in Austria.

Pavlovic has made no secret, meanwhile, of his admiration for Serbia icon Nemanja Vidic. He even once picked his shirt number in tribute to the former Manchester United captain.

"I chose number 15 because of the Serbian legend, the best defender Vidic," Pavlovic said back in 2022, via SD. "He was my boyhood idol and I took that number because of him.

"I like to be a leader on and off the field."

Left-sided centre-halves are in high demand HITC understands that there is also interest from AC Milan, Atalanta and a Bayer Leverkusen side who won the Bundesliga last season but could now lose star defender Jonathan Tah to Bayern Munich.

The aforementioned Hancko, meanwhile, is also on the radar of Liverpool and West Ham, HITC understands.

His agent, however, believes that a move to Spain is more likely as things stand for the Slovakia stopper.

"I have to say that, of all the clubs that are currently interested in David, Atletico is in first place for us," David Jasurek explains to RTVS.

"Others are more like conversations. Some are friendly because we've known each other for a long time. Some are new. At this point, nothing has come up that David is thinking about it more than Atletico. The second thing is that it is not yet a completed transfer.

"Both David and I like (the idea of joining Diego Simeone's side). But they will decide in Feyenoord."