Aston Villa have reportedly had an approach from Galatasaray over the potential signing of defender Diego Carlos in the January transfer window.
The 31-year-old has been linked with an exit from Villa dating back to last summer, as the club are seemingly ready to move him on and upgrade in that area of the squad with a more suitable replacement.
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Carlos has been ruled out of featuring against Everton in midweek due to injury, as per Unai Emery, but the Brazilian centre-half has since denied that he’s carrying a knock, and so it seems as though an exit this month would be the best outcome for all concerned.
Interest has been touted for the past two weeks but no agreement has yet been reached between Villa and another club, but Fabrizio Romano now reports that Galatasaray have made an approach to sign Carlos, and so with talks said to be underway, time will tell if there is a breakthrough in negotiations to get a transfer secured with the Turkish giants.
Romano goes on to add that the Villa defender will not be part of discussions with Sevilla as we’ve been linked with a move for Loic Bade this month, and so it remains to be seen if a switch to Turkey could be the solution that all parties are looking for, with Fenerbahce previously linked, but seemingly now out of the race for now.
Carlos has been limited to 17 appearances so far this season as he has settled into a back-up role behind the likes of Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa, but given the injury sustained by Pau Torres earlier this month, we are certainly light in that department and so an exit will surely only be approved if we have a replacement lined up to immediately come in and fill that void.
While he has had some memorable performances and has played his part in our progress over the past two years or so, it does feel like the right time to split ways, and hopefully after moving quickly to bring in Donyell Malen this week, Villa will be able to address another problematic area of Emery’s squad sooner rather than later.
