Aston Villa are reportedly open to listening to offers for midfielder Leander Dendoncker this summer, with interest in his services said to be high.
The 28-year-old joined us from Wolves last September in a deadline-day signing for former boss Steven Gerrard, and he went on to make 21 appearances last season.
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14 of those outings came under Unai Emery, albeit largely in a bit-part role, but when asked to deputise in midfield, the Belgian international did a solid job for the most part and surprised many by fitting into the style well.
However, according to Fabrizio Romano, Villa are open to listening to offers for Dendoncker this summer, with the player himself also said to be open to considering any proposals made.
It’s added that although he’s highly-rated by Emery, it seems there is a willingness to allow him to move on and interest is certainly building as clubs in the Premier League, France and Italy have all enquired about his availability already.
Villa did not disclose the length of his contract when announcing his signing last year, but Romano hints that there is still a long way to run on it, and so that should hopefully help us demand a decent fee to recoup what we can and reinvest that back into the squad.
Ultimately, with the signing of his compatriot Youri Tielemans on a free transfer, coupled with the limited role that he was already playing with competition fierce in midfield as Jacob Ramsey, Douglas Luiz, Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn cemented their respective positions in the Villa XI last season, if we can sell for a decent figure, it would seem like good business.
That said, Emery will surely not want to lose that competition and depth that he’s trying to build across the squad as we look to compete on multiple fronts, and so time will tell if an exit would mean another signing to fill that void, or if he perhaps has plans to utilise another option at his disposal.
Tim Iroegbunam returns from his loan spell at QPR last season hoping to make a breakthrough under the Villa boss this year, while Morgan Sanson and Marvelous Nakamba are also back from positive loan stints.
Speculation has widely suggested that the latter duo are set to move on this summer too, but it remains to be seen what the end result of our midfield reshuffle looks like to ensure Emery has what he needs to ensure we are as competitive as possible.
