Aston Villa’s reported offer for Donyell Malen is said to be significantly below what Borussia Dortmund are demanding for the attacking ace.
As per The Athletic this week, Villa are in talks over signing the Dutch international this month, but it was suggested in that report that our initial offer fell short of Dortmund’s valuation, and so negotiations were continuing between the two clubs.
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Malen, 25, hasn’t had as big an impact so far this season for the Bundesliga giants, but since joining them in 2021 after an excellent spell with PSV, he has scored 39 goals and provided 20 assists in 131 appearances.
His qualities have seemingly caught the eye of Unai Emery and Villa, and with the likes of Leon Bailey and Jacob Ramsey struggling to make a consistent impact so far this season, the Dutchman could add a crucial new dynamic to our attack as we haven’t really filled the void left behind by Moussa Diaby after his departure last summer.
Some will perhaps argue that we could do better and should consider alternative targets which may yet come to fruition, and particularly amid speculation over how big the gap is between our offer and Dortmund’s valuation, Villa may well be forced to look elsewhere.
According to Christian Falk, and also Sky Sport Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, Villa have offered €18m plus add-ons for Malen, but Dortmund are said to want at least €30m to approve an exit for the Dutch forward. That is a sizeable gap between the two touted figures, dependent on how much the bonuses add up to, and so it does raise doubts over whether or not a compromise can be reached between the two clubs.
Villa will continue to be wary of PSR this month and so there is going to be a limit on our transfer budget and how much we allocate to this specific role. It’s hard to see us spending anything close to €30m, if that is indeed an accurate representation of what Dortmund want, and so it may well become clear in the coming days if we decide to move on and consider alternative options.
Nevertheless, if there is progress in negotiations and Malen is Emery’s preferred target, then it’s hoped that an agreement can be reached, and the Villa boss gets another key option to develop and improve and one that suits his system and style of play to allow him to flourish and take his game to the next level.
We’ve seen that with Morgan Rogers after his arrival last year, and so it would seemingly be wise to bring in the type of attacking player that Emery feels will improve us and make us more of a threat in the final third.
