Aston Villa are reportedly advancing in talks with Fenerbahce over the sale of defender Diego Carlos, while we have our sights set on a trio of potential targets to strengthen our defence.
Carlos arrived from Sevilla in 2022, and has gone on to make 58 appearances for the club, 17 of which have come so far this season.
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Although he remains an important option in defence for Unai Emery, he has been limited to a bit-part role as cover in our backline, or as an alternative tactical solution when the Villa boss opts to shift Ezri Konsa across to right-back.
After significant speculation over his future last summer though, it was felt that Villa could certainly upgrade in that position if an exit materialised, and although it didn’t in the last transfer window, it may be different this month.
According to the Daily Mail, Fenerbahce are now said to be confident of getting a deal done for the Villa centre-half as talks are said to be advancing over a £10m deal for Carlos, but that largely builds on the original report from Sky Sports earlier this week who first noted interest from the Turkish giants.
It’s hoped that progress has indeed been made in the time that has since passed, as at 31 years of age and with his current contract set to expire in 18 months, that’s a respectable fee to attain for Carlos and it could be the best offer we receive to move him on if he doesn’t form part of our longer-term plans.
The report from the Mail goes on to suggest that Villa have identified three potential transfer targets to help fill the void and bolster our defensive options, with an enquiry made for Celta Vigo’s Oscar Mingueza, while Flamengo defender Wesley Franca and Kasimpasa’s Yasmin Ozcan are both said to be on our transfer radar too.
With Pau Torres suffering a significant injury setback last week, Villa will undoubtedly look to ensure that we have a deal secured to bring a reinforcement in before letting Carlos go, as that would leave us dangerously light at the back in terms of competition and depth for Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa until Torres makes his comeback.
That was reflected in Emery’s recent comments in which he described Carlos as being ‘necessary’, and so it remains to be seen if there is a reshuffle at the back this month, which in turn will hopefully improve us and make financial sense too as we’ll no doubt have one eye on our PSR position as well.
