French Ligue 1 giants Marseille failed with a £11 million deadline day bid for Aston Villa striker Jordan Ayew shortly before the transfer window shut yesterday.

The former Marseille striker has been linked with a host of clubs including Hamburg, Olympiakos and Swansea during the transfer window.

Villa owner, Dr Tony Xia had already stated on Twitter that Ayew would not be allowed to leave because he is crucial to their hopes of qualifying back to the English Premier League at the first attempt.

However, Marseille in the last few days was acquired by an American businessman, Frank McCourt, who was keen on recruiting some players to boost the depleted Marseille squad.

No fewer than eight significant players left the club this summer, including ex-captain Steve Mandanda, Michy Batshuayi, Nicolas Nkoulou and Benjamin Mendy. Marseille have hardly spent a penny replacing them, instead relying on loans for the likes of Bafetimbi Gomis and Florian Thauvin.

Mr McCourt was hoping to replace Chelsea forward Batshuayi with Jordan Ayew, but Tony Xia reportedly shot down the bid because there was not enough time for Villa to get a suitable replacement.