Aston Villa have reportedly agreed a deal to sign Chelsea left-back Ian Maatsen, as Unai Emery looks set to strengthen his options in that position.
Maatsen, 22, made 15 appearances for Chelsea last season before being loaned out to Borussia Dortmund in January, where he contributed three goals and two assists in 23 outings to go with his defensive work.
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The Dutchman was a key figure for the Bundesliga giants in their run to the Champions League final, while he eventually earned a late call-up to the national team for EURO 2024 this summer.
Despite having options in that role already at his disposal, Emery was seemingly keen to strengthen further this summer, and according to The Athletic, Villa have now agreed a deal with Chelsea to sign Maatsen to address that issue.
It’s added that the fee is just above £35m, while Villa are working on finalising personal terms, with Maatsen expected to sign a six-year contract at the club.
It remains to be seen if this forms part of a bigger agreement with Chelsea amid ongoing speculation linking players with moves in both directions this summer, but it certainly sounds as though the Dutch defender is closing in on being the first to make the switch.
His potential arrival does pose an interesting question now though, as with both Alex Moreno and Lucas Digne already at Villa, Maatsen’s arrival will surely signal the end for one of them.
It has long been speculated that Digne’s wages are an issue and so perhaps we’ll move to offload him off our books, but with Moreno missing a significant part of last season due to injury, time will tell if he’s the one to make way, with Digne offering different characteristics at left-back if needed.
A lot of the focus so far this summer has been on Villa having to make sales as we look to balance our books and stay on the right side of PSR, but based on the report above, it looks like we’re set to make our first big splash in the transfer market with a move for Maatsen.
