Aston Villa midfielder Leander Dendoncker is reportedly set to return to the club this summer, as Napoli aren’t expected to trigger their €9m buy option.
The 29-year-old joined us from Wolves in September 2022, and he has since gone on to make 36 appearances for the club.
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However, following Unai Emery’s arrival, he found playing time hard to come by as he dropped down the pecking order, and the Belgian international was subsequently sent out on loan to Napoli in January.
Unfortunately, the move hasn’t gone to plan as he’s totalled just 21 minutes of football for the Serie A giants, and so unsurprisingly, according to Fabrizio Romano, it’s expected that he will return to Villa at the end of the season as Napoli won’t trigger their option-to-buy clause worth €9m.
Importantly though, Romano adds that Villa will look for a new solution for Dendoncker this summer, as an exit, be it temporary or permanent, seems like the best thing for all concerned parties.
Dendoncker’s situation at Villa doesn’t look likely to change next season as when we have all of our midfield options fit and available, he’ll struggle to break into the side even as we try to compete on multiple fronts.
Further, Villa will no doubt be keen to move him on to give ourselves more financial flexibility in the upcoming transfer window to sign new players, as any sale would also create space in the squad for Emery to bring in his own reinforcements that likely fis his style and ideas more effectively.
Time will tell how the situation plays out, but ultimately it’s hoped that we can find an alternative agreement with another club, and ideally it would be a permanent switch rather than facing the risk of a repeat of this loan stint going wrong.
Dendoncker does offer a different dynamic in midfield and has important characteristics that we perhaps lack in our other players, and so it could be argued that he’s capable of having a role to play. Nevertheless, with Champions League football to consider too, Villa surely must look to upgrade and strengthen the squad where possible.
Further, given Emery sent him out on loan in the middle of this past season and considering how that stint in Naples went, it wouldn’t suggest a turnaround in fortunes for the Belgian ace.
