Marseille are moving along nicely with their negotiations for Aston Villa's Carlos Sanchez.

French daily La Provence reports that discussions between the Ligue 1 club and the relegated English outfit regarding a summer transfer for the Colombian midfielder are going well.

Sanchez, 30, joined Villa from Spanish side Elche for around £4.7million in the summer of 2014 but is keen to avoid playing in the Championship following Villa's relegation and appears set to return to France's top flight where he made close to 200 appearances for Valenciennes between 2007 and 2013.

It is understood that Marseille will pay under £1.6m (€2m) for the man known as La Roca (The Rock).