Clement Lenglet may be tempted to ditch Aston Villa loan in January as Bayern Munich transfer news emerges
Aston Villa loanee Clement Lenglet has been resigned to a bit-part role since his summer move and could well be tempted to ditch Villa Park in January already.
Unai Emery’s defence has been solid this season, with almost half of the 20 goals conceded in the Premier League coming across two defeats to Newcastle and Liverpool earlier in the campaign.
And much of that is down to the partnership developed in the centre between Ezri Konsa and £33million-signing Pau Torres [Sky Sports, 12 July] which has seen the Frenchman on the periphery.
The Spaniard was picked up from Villarreal in the summer to reunite with Emery and after Tyrone Mings was ruled out long term with an ACL injury Torres stepped in and has made the position his own.
Ming’s injury meant the decision to bring in Lenglet was justified with the Frenchman already so far this campaign, when called upon in the Europa Conference League, proving a capable alternative.
As per SofaScore, Lenglet has started all five of their European games so far this season, recording 92.8 touches per game, completing 95% of his passes, recording 0.4 key passes from centre-back, averaging 1.2 tackles per game, 5.4 balls recovered, completing 100% of his dribbles and 64% of his total duels.
Despite his limited minutes, it hasn’t been all doom and gloom for Lenglet but given his age, experience and profile the Frenchman certainly won’t be totally satisfied and a fresh opportunity to seek pastures new in the winter may well have arisen already.
According to SportBild German journalist Christian Falk, taking to his personal Twitter account (6 December), German champions Bayern Munich are interested in the Barcelona loanee in January.
Right now, Diego Carlos is ahead of him currently in the pecking order, meaning that if the Mings was fit and available Lenglet would be no better than fifth choice at his position, which would seem to be a role that could adequately be filled by Calum Chambers.
Aston Villa will certainly want to keep the French pass-master in January given Mings may not be back towards the end of the current campaign, but when Bayern Munich come calling, you have to sit up and take notice.
Should a formal offer be presented to Lenglet by the German giants, it won’t be a surprise to see him ditch B6 and jump ship to the Allianz Arena in Germany.
In other Aston Villa, one forgotten player may be losing patience with Unai Emery as his bags could already be packed ahead of a January exit.