Aston Villa will look elsewhere to bolster Unai Emery’s defensive options after Sevilla defender Loic Bade publicly ruled out a move away.
The 24-year-old emerged as a top target for Villa this month amid intense speculation, with Matteo Moretto reporting that we were in discussions with Sevilla having made an offer to acquire the French centre-half.
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However, doubts started to emerge over the past week as reports began to suggest that not only had Villa not yet reached an agreement with Sevilla over a transfer, but Bade himself was perhaps not keen on the idea of leaving the La Liga outfit.
As per Fabrizio Romano, that has now been confirmed as the case, as Bade has publicly confirmed that he will be staying with Sevilla, thus ruling out the possibility of a move to join us in the January transfer window.
That will likely come as a blow for Monchi and the club given reports suggested we were actively pursuing Bade to not only strengthen our backline, but also to fill the void left behind by Diego Carlos after his departure to join Fenerbahce this week.
However, if Bade wasn’t eager to join us and wasn’t willing to compete for a place in Emery’s starting line-up in a more ambitious project, that perhaps says more about him than us, and so hopefully we move on, identify another strong transfer target that can provide a solution, and ultimately get a deal done before the transfer deadline.
With Pau Torres currently sidelined by injury for some time still after suffering a broken metatarsal at the end of last month, Villa have just Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa available as senior options to play in the heart of Emery’s backline, and with Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup games to come, that is simply not enough to compete and have sufficient cover in case of further setbacks.
Bade seemingly ticked a lot of important boxes with his defensive strengths and composure in possession, but Villa will now have to find an alternative solution it seems, and hopefully it’s a move that improves the squad for the long run.
