After Clement Lenglet joined Aston Villa on a season-long loan deal this past summer, the Frenchman has had limited opportunities to impress under Unai Emery thus far.
As per Barcelona’s statement, the Frenchman has joined us on loan until June 2024, and he was ultimately an important addition to the Villa defence for several reasons.
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Most prominent was the potential season-ending injury suffered by Tyrone Mings, and so Emery needed cover in that position. The 28-year-old provides that and is a reliable option given his experience and know-how of the Premier League, and given his ability to play on the left side of the centre-half pairing, he adds balance to the backline when needed.
However, he has yet to feature in the league so far this season as Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa continue to cement their partnership, while Diego Carlos is ahead of Lenglet in the pecking order too as the trio could all feature at times.
In turn, Lenglet has been limited to just two starts in the Europa Conference League, and while he’s played well in both, the question has been asked as to whether or not he’ll be put in a position to do enough to ultimately earn a permanent switch to Villa next summer.
On one hand, it could be argued that it was never seen as a long-term solution by Emery and the club hierarchy anyway.
Lenglet addresses a very specific need for a season in terms of filling the void left by Mings, and hopefully our talismanic centre-half will make a full recovery and be back in the side in the latter stages of this campaign, or in the next. That in turn then raises the question mark as to whether or not Lenglet will still be needed.
For Barcelona though, they will be looking to safeguard their interests in the matter. As per Sport, the Catalan giants are still paying part of Lenglet’s salary, and with his contract with them running until 2026, they are looking to offload him permanently at some stage having failed to reach an agreement to terminate his deal.
If he fails to play regularly at Villa, that will undoubtedly complicate their chances of doing that, as not only does it make him less important for us, but he’s not being put in the window for others to assess his quality.
So, could that force a discussion in January as to whether or not he stays? Will he realistically become more involved between now and the next transfer window to change the situation?
Lenglet is a useful option to have this season and ideally he’ll prove his importance by delivering at a high level when called upon by Emery. However, if we look at the longer-term picture, it’s very much questionable as to whether he’ll get the chance to do enough to earn a permanent move to Villa Park next summer, and if we even need to consider it.
Villa’s hand might be forced if Barcelona opt to recall him in the New Year though, and so Emery, along with Monchi and the rest of the scouting and football department will likely already be hard at work trying to identify other options that could prove to be a better fit for all concerned and to provide a long-term solution.
Do you see Villa making Lenglet’s move permanent? Is he a ‘one season and done’ solution?
