First January exit on cards already at Aston Villa as Fabrizio Romano shares Clement Lenglet transfer update
Aston Villa may already be gearing up for their first business of January with on-loan fringe defender Clement Lenglet set to depart the club.
Italian transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, taking to his personal Twitter account (20 December) shared that the club will speak to the Frenchman’s camp before the end of December to discuss a possible exit which is now “considered likely”.
It’s reported by Romano that Serie A giants AC Milan remain keen on signing the former Sevilla defender and are waiting to understand the conditions of another loan deal for Lenglet.
Romano wrote: “Understand Aston Villa will speak to Clement Lenglet’s camp before the end of the month in order to discuss January exit — considered likely. Barcelona will also be involved in the discussion.
“AC Milan remain keen but still waiting to understand conditions of loan deal.”
The Frenchman has been resigned to a bit-part role at Villa Park since his summer loan from Barcelona, with manager Unai Emery preferring the likes of Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Diego Carlos.
Torres was signed from Villarreal in the summer to reunite him with Emery and after Tyrone Mings was ruled out long-term with an ACL injury the new man stepped in immediately and hasn’t looked back since.
Torres’ immediate impression has made the decision to bring in Lenglet from Barcelona on a deadline-day loan deal look like an expensive mistake, as the French international has still yet to play a minute in the Premier League for Villa, after making 26 appearances in the top flight on loan at Tottenham last season.
According to a report from The Sun on 16 November, his £150,000-a-week wages make him the most expensive bench-warmer in the league.
The sum of Lenglet’s involvement so far is five appearances in the Europa Conference League, and with this week the 13th of his Aston Villa spell, the Frenchman has so far earned a whopping £1.95m in wages all while playing just five games.
The Villans are paying for Barcelona’s ineptitude in terms of handing huge wages to several of their panic signings over the years so the club knew what they were getting themselves into when they brought Lenglet in last summer.
It’s easy to see why both parties will want to part ways and his displays in the Europa Conference League don’t scream of a player kicking down Emery’s door for regular minutes.
As per SofaScore, Lenglet has started all five of their European games so far this season, recording 92.8 touches per game, completing 95 per cent of his passes, recording 0.4 key passes from centre-back, averaging 1.2 tackles per game, 5.4 balls recovered, completing 100 per cent of his dribbles and 64 per cent of his total duels.
In terms of what he offers Emery in terms of ball progression and retention from deep, the Frenchman has proven effective in that regard.
Amongst all players in the Europa Conference League this season, Lenglet ranks ninth for touches, joint-second for successful take-ons %, and sixth for progressive carries distance [FBRef].
Amongst his positional peers in Europe’s top-five leagues, he ranks in the 99th percentile for pass completion % per 90, 90th percentile for progressive passes, 92nd for progressive carries and 93rd percentile for success take-ons.
Emery thought the Frenchman was a good addition because of his tremendous attributes on the ball and he has proved it but Lenglet will certainly feel opportunities to do so regularly have not been enough.
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.
With no Europa Conference League football until March and Lenglet struggling for Premier League minutes, that could see Aston Villa waste millions on the fringe French star with his wages amounting to around £1.5m should he not feature again until then.
Aston Villa may well be tempted to keep him around but given the amount of money which could be lost, football President Monchi and Emery simply have to cut ties now.
In other Aston Villa news, a fringe player could be given a chance to impress in the absence of Boubacar Kamara.