Aston Villa expected to trigger £3.5million option for Robin Olsen soon – Fabrizio Romano
Aston Villa want to keep on-loan goalkeeper Robin Olsen at the club and are close to triggering the option to buy him, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The 32-year-old Swede is on his fourth-consecutive temporary move away from Roma, but is set to make a permanent switch to Villa Park.
The club are apparently negotiating with the Serie A side and will soon activate the £3.5million clause in his loan deal.
Romano wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning (1 June): “Aston Villa are getting closer to find full agreement with AS Roma on Robin Olsen deal. Buy option clause for €3.5m expected to be triggered soon, as Aston Villa want to keep Olsen at the club.
“Talks in progress, the deal could be completed soon.”
After spending the first half of the season on loan in the Championship with Sheffield United he moved to Villa in the January window and made one appearance in the final day defeat at Manchester City.
More moves
While not quite on the scale of Diego Carlos or Boubacar Kamara the transfer business at the club apparently shows no signs of slowing down.
Olsen was on the bench for every other game than the one he started and would figure to be a back-up if starter Emi Martinez remains.
There have been some suggestions over the past couple of months that the Argentine is a summer target for Juventus.
If momentum towards an exit gathers pace then the club would definitely need an insurance policy, which looks like Olsen is set to be.
It will be forth time lucky after moves away from the Stadio Olimpico, where he hasn’t actually featured since the season he signed there from Copenhagen in 2018-19.
The interesting decision for the club to rest their usual starter in the crucial final game of the season with opponents Manchester City going for the title ended up being lost in the furore over the Swedish international being assaulted multiple times on his way off the pitch during a pitch invasion after the final whistle.
He conceded three times in five minutes in that game as the champions came back from 2-0 down to win, but he has apparently shown enough in his time with the club for them to not judge him purely on that outing.
In other Aston Villa news, the club are monitoring Sergio Gomez as an alternative to Calvin Bassey.