Aston Villa winger Leon Bailey has reportedly not travelled with the rest of the squad for our pre-season tour of Asia.
Having featured in our pre-season games already this summer, the 28-year-old was forced off after just 23 minutes against Porto last weekend with what has since been reported as muscle tightness.
It comes amid ongoing speculation over his future as an exit is the most likely outcome in this transfer window, and it’s now suggested that he won’t make the trip to Asia this week with the rest of his teammates.
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According to The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell, the Villa squad flew out to Indonesia on Wednesday evening and the expectation is that Bailey is staying in England as talks continue over a possible exit, with the Jamaican international said to be wanted by Hull City.
It’s added that Bailey will continue to train and the situation is ‘amicable’ between the two sides, but naturally being abroad on our tour would likely complicate the process of finalising a move elsewhere given he would have to go through the formal steps of a medical and signing his new contract.
In turn, it’s a sensible move for both the player and the club, and it would certainly be ideal now if a deal can be agreed sooner rather than later to not only allow Bailey to start a new chapter in his career, but for Villa to perhaps have more financial flexibility to continue to bring in reinforcements of our own.
Bailey was a key figure in our 2023/24 campaign as he flourished under Unai Emery, but it has been a struggle since as he has failed to offer a consistent source of goals and assists despite continuing to play an important role, while he was offloaded on loan to Roma last season.
Although he did return in the second half of the season to play an important squad role for us, it does feel as though his time at Villa is coming to a natural end, and so hopefully there is movement on his future in the coming days while the rest of the Villa squad continue our preparations in Indonesia this week.