Aston Villa have reportedly agreed to send Samuel Iling-Junior on loan to Bologna for the rest of this season.
The 20-year-old joined us from Juventus earlier this summer, and went on to feature during pre-season as Unai Emery continues to build and strengthen his squad.
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However, after failing to find a place in our first matchday squad of the season for our trip to West Ham Utd last weekend, question marks were raised over whether or not a temporary departure might be the best solution for Iling-Junior this season.
As per Fabrizio Romano, that appears set to now happen, as he reports that Villa and Bologna have agreed a season-long loan deal with no option to buy included, while the Serie A side will cover the talented youngster’s salary during his time with them.
Further, it’s added that Iling-Junior will undergo a medical on Sunday, and so he now looks set to return to Italy for another year after his time in Turin.
While some will perhaps question the strategy of signing players to bolster our squad only to then loan them out shortly after, with Lewis Dobbin following a similar path, it’s another deal that makes sense as Iling-Junior is likely to struggle for regular playing time with us this season.
Instead, he gets a better opportunity of securing a more prominent role at Bologna, and he’ll continue to improve and develop at a high level, with the Rossoblu not only looking to replicate their excellent season last year, but also compete in the Champions League this season.
In turn, it will hopefully lead to Iling-Junior returning to Villa a better player for the experience, and naturally another decision will then be taken by Emery and his staff as to whether he has a place in his long-term plans, or if there is perhaps an opportunity to make a profit on him if it suits all parties to find an alternative solution.
With our competition for places on the left flank both at left-back and in attack, it’s unlikely that this decision will leave us light of options with Lucas Digne, Ian Maatsen, Jacob Ramsey, Morgan Rogers and others all available still, and so hopefully it proves to be the ideal temporary fix for all concerned.
