Aston Villa and Inter Milan transfer exchange mooted - player favours Man United move
A swap deal between Aston Villa and the Serie A champions has been mooted for either January or next summer.
Aston Villa and Inter could be involved in a potential swap deal come the January transfer window - but one player could scupper those plans.
According to Corriere dello Sport, Dumfries wasn't in favour of a move to Villa Park during the summer. The Netherlands international 'snubbed' their interest, and then attentions turned to pushing him to move to Manchester United after Aaron Wan-Bissaka left. A move to Old Trafford failed to materialise, but his apparent preference is that he would prefer a move to the Red Devils, over Villa.
The 28-year-old's contract expires at the end of the season, but Inter are making efforts to extend his stay at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. He was in England on Wednesday, as he played 15 minutes against Man City in the Champions League. Dumfries has yet to start a game for Inter this season, with Matteo Darmian preferred ahead of him.
Despite Dumfries' reluctance to join Villa, they really 'like him' and there is the potential of a 'rich salary' and a leading role at the club. Matty Cash is currently Villa's first-choice right-back, but he's sidelined with an injury, whilst Lamare Bogarde has filled in for him in his absence.
Kosta Nedeljkovic is also an option having signed from Red Star Belgrade in January, whilst Ezri Konsa is capable of playing in that position, and so it would mean some movement involving other players either in January, or in the summer.
Aston Villa hold a reported interest in Dumfries, but Inter are apparently 'crazy' about Jacob Ramsey, according to InterLive.it, and there is talk of a potential swap deal. As mentioned, Dumfries' contract expires next summer, and so first and foremost they would need to extend his contract, as otherwise he could just leave for free, and Villa could make their pitch to him then.
Ramsey is 23-years-old, and under contact until 2027, so Villa would value him much higher than Dumfries, and so Inter would need to either offer money, or another player in the deal for it to be viable. He recently scored on his Champions League debut in the 3-0 win against Young Boys, and Unai Emery is a big fan of his. Newcastle United made an approach for him in January, whilst Spurs and Bayern Munich were interested, but the Spaniard said he '100 per cent' wanted to keep him.