Aston Villa ramp up transfer efforts as £30m star made 'number one target'
Aston Villa will look to move on their fringe players to sign Lutsharel Geertruida, according to a report.
Telegraph journalist John Percy says that Villa will look to find Diego Carlos a new club before Friday’s deadline. Leander Dendoncker is also expected to depart, either on loan or permanently, and their departures will fund the £30m move for Geertruida.
Earlier on Wednesday, it was reported by The Athletic that Dendoncker was exploring his options ahead of the transfer window shutting and added that his movement could affect what happens with Enzo Barrenechea.
Barrenechea however is all but set to depart with Fabrizio Romano confirming that he would be joining Valencia on loan with his salary covered. The 23-year-old featured in pre-season for Unai Emery but will play his football away from Villa Park, despite only joining from Juventus in the summer.
Belgian midfielder Dendoncker doesn’t currently feature in Emery’s plans. The 29-year-old was loaned out to Napoli last season but made just three appearances.
He has another two years on his contract, but since Emery’s arrival in the winter of 2022, Dendoncker has only been used in five competitive matches. Despite the uncertainty around his future, he was taken on Villa’s pre-season tour of the USA.
As for Diego Carlos, he’s been an unused substitute in Villa’s opening two games. A move to Fulham was spoken about earlier this summer, but they opted to sign Joachim Andersen and Jorge Cuenca.
Earlier this month, Unai Emery did confirm that Carlos was thinking of leaving this summer and there was an open relationship between the two on his future. A move wasn’t completely ruled out at the time but the Spaniard admitted he was happy with Carlos.
An injury to Matty Cash has potentially changed things though with Villa now expected to ramp up their interest in Geertruida after being linked with him for the last month at least. Cash came off injured against Arsenal and is expected to miss at least a month of action with a hamstring injury.
In the Telegraph’s report, Geertruida has been listed as Unai Emery’s number one target ahead of the transfer deadline. Football Insider are reporting that talks have opened between Villa and Feyenoord for the 24-year-old.