Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Sanson is reportedly almost certain to secure a permanent move to Nice this summer.
The 29-year-old joined the Ligue 1 outfit on a season-long loan deal last summer, in a move that seemed to finally spell the beginning of the end of his time with us given Unai Emery opted to ship him out temporarily for a second time.
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Sanson joined Strasbourg on loan last January, and despite our increased workload and ambition to compete across multiple fronts this year, the Frenchman wasn’t considered to be part of the plans moving forward.
He has since gone on to make 18 appearances for Nice so far in this campaign, and according to L’Equipe, it now seems almost certain that the option to make his transfer a permanent move will be exercised.
It’s noted that in order for the €4m option in the deal to be triggered, Sanson must start at least 17 league games and Nice must finish 8th or above in Ligue 1 this season.
While the midfielder has already made 15 starts with much of the campaign remaining and with the club sitting in second place in the standings, 11 points above ninth-place, it seems as though the conditions to make his move permanent are going to be met.
Naturally, things could change and Nice may struggle through the second half of the season, but assessing the current situation, we may well finally bid farewell to Sanson after his arrival from Marseille in January 2021.
It never worked out for the French midfielder as he has been limited to 23 appearances for Villa, with a number of injury issues and competition for places restricting his involvement under Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard and now Emery.
Given the technical ability and quality that he displayed when involved at times, it was always a real frustration that we couldn’t see him produce his best form in a Villa shirt, and with the report above in mind and with our progress and success without him as we move in a different direction, it looks as though a split is inevitable this summer.
The touted €4m fee is arguably a little disappointing as we would have liked to have recouped as much of his initial transfer fee as possible, but it will hopefully be an important injection of funds when it comes to balancing our spending this year, if he does indeed move on.