It’s a painful case of déjà vu for Newcastle.
Just a few weeks ago the club lost another top target, Victor Munoz, who decided to move to Liverpool.
Identifying talent is clearly not an issue.
Over the past 12 months, Newcastle have targeted Manzambi, Munoz, Hugo Ekiteike, Joao Pedro, Benjamin Sesco and James Trafford.
But losing out to Aston Villa for a top target would be another real setback for Newcastle in the transfer market.
If Newcastle miss out, the big question is can the club quietly move on to another promising target, as they did with Bazoumana Toure after Muñoz left elsewhere?
On the one hand, we still have enough time to do this and strengthen other areas of the team.
On the other hand, there is a lot of work to be done and little chance of further discards.
The sight of those players who were left out of the World Cup returning for pre-season training on Monday was a timely reminder of that.