Europa League club 'desperate' to sign £3m Aston Villa star as transfer plans change

Malmo are 'desperate' to sign Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen, according to reports in Scandinavia.

Olsen was been an unused substitute for the last three games against Bologna, Bournemouth and Spurs, but before then he hadn't made a match day squad. Joe Gauci had been preferred ahead of him in the Carabao Cup with Oliwier Zych acting as back-up.

Swedish newspaper AftonBladet have said that because of an injury to Johan Dahlin who will be sidelined for six months, Malmo might speed up the process to sign Olsen. Dahlin is out for the next six months, and that means rather than targeting him next summer, they will now try and land him in January.

The Swedish football season ends in November, but Malmo are in the Europa League so they have several more games to play. Signing Olsen, could allow him to play against FC Twente, and Slavia Praha.

The Allsvenskan runs from March to November, and Malmo were crowned champions this season so if Olsen does move, he will be joining a side that will compete in the 2025/26 Champions League qualifying rounds.

There has been no secret surrounding Malmo’s interest in Olsen. Former Brentford and Leeds United defender Pontus Jansson at the end of October spoke of his desire to see Olsen return to his former club.

"I don’t think I need to persuade him, but we know each other well, so we’ll see what happens," Jansson said to Fotbollskanalen.

“He’s one of my closest friends, so we talk a lot, sometimes a bit of MFF [Malmo] too, but not too much.”

Olsen has been at Villa for two years, having signed for a fee of around £3m from Roma. To date, he's made 17 appearances for the Villains, conceding 37 goals and keeping three clean sheets.