Ahead of Saturday’s Premier League opener with West Ham United, Unai Emery was quizzed on the prospect of a late-window departure for two of Aston Villa’s expensive benchwarmers.
Jhon Duran only started three top-flight games last season due to the thrilling form of Ollie Watkins.
And while Emery is keen to keep the £40 million-rated striker, he can understand Duran’s frustrations as West Ham United overtake Chelsea as potentially the most likely destination.
As for Diego Carlos, the Brazil international might find game time hard to come by presuming Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa are set to be Emery’s first-choice defensive partnership.
Carlos featured far more regularly than Duran from the start, but he was still only included in the XI in just over half of their 38 Premier League fixtures.
HITC understands that Fulham are keen.
And Emery now admits that there is a plan in place should Carlos – a £26 million signing from Sevilla – depart.
Aston Villa could sell Diego Carlos to Fulham
“We have been speaking a lot with him about his commitment over the whole season. About being focussed, about his development, respect, everything. He is training well. He is in the squad for tomorrow,” Emery adds, via the Birmingham Mail.
“(But) we plan in case he is leaving. We are planning it.”
That plan may well have been Lutsharel Geertruida. HITC understands that Aston Villa opened talks with the Feyenoord ace last week.
But we used the past tense because, according to reports coming out of Rotterdam, Geertruida is edging towards staying at De Kuip rather than packing his backs and heading to Villa Park. What this means for Carlos, however, only time will tell.
Captaining the team in the absence of usual skipper Gernot Trauner during much of last term, the 2023 Eredivisie winner is not only a natural born leader, he is also the most positionally versatile member of Feyenoord’s squad.
As Eredivisie expert Kenneth Perez puts it, he played in three different roles during the Johan Cruyff Shield victory over PSV Eindhoven at the start of August.
Feyenoord would likely have had to accept cut-price bids too. Geertruida, valued at £25 million when RB Leipzig came calling last year per Algemeen Dagblad, is due to become a free agent in the summer of 2025.
But that may be about to change.
Lutsharel Geertruida increasingly likely to stay at Feyenoord
1908, probably the best source of news about all things Feyenoord, now say that Brian Priske’s team are ‘one step closer’ to extending Geertruida’s contract. While an agreement has not been reached with the homegrown 24-year-old, Feyenoord believe they have met his demands.
A further temptation could be provided by the chance to wear Feyenoord’s famous number seven shirt – an unusual one for a defender admittedly – and thereby follow in the footsteps of legends such as Dirk Kuyt, Ruud Gullit and Johnny Rep.
Interestingly, HITC can also confirm that Liverpool discussed Geertruida earlier in the summer, having brought in his former boss Arne Slot to replace Jurgen Klopp.
West Ham United expressed their interest too while signing ex-Feyenoord starlet Crysencio Summerville from Leeds.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, could hand debuts to a number of new signings against West Ham. Including a couple Arsenal legend Ian Wright is excited to see in action.
The post Aston Villa likely to miss out despite opening talks with target, implications for Emery's £26m ace appeared first on HITC.
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