Leander Dendoncker has played final game for Aston Villa as Unai Emery transfer call emerges
Leander Dendoncker won’t play for Aston Villa again after his loan spell at Napoli with the Belgian already in the “shop window”, according to Alan Hutton
The midfielder departed Villa Park on loan, joining the Serie A giants on a temporary basis until the end of the season, with Fabrizio Romano (24 January) confirming the deal does have a permanent option included if Napoli wish to retain his services.
Since arriving in Naples, the 28-year-old has made two appearances in the Serie A, both of which came as a late substitute in the final minutes of matches against Lazio and Hellas Verona as he continues to find his feet in Italian football.
While Hutton isn’t convinced Napoli will activate their £7.7million buy option, he does expect Dendoncker to depart Villa Park permanently as it will only get harder for him to hold down a consistent place in Unai Emery’s starting XI in the future.
“He’s another one that I would probably expect to move on,” Hutton told Villa News.
“I think at this point in your career when you’re playing at a club and you go out on loan at his age, it kind of tells you that there’s not really any room for you at this time.
“Villa are only going to strengthen, so if he can’t get into the team at this moment in time then it is going to get progressively harder for him.
“So go out on loan, I hope he does the best that he possibly can and moves on from there. You’re in the shop window so you’re there to show people what you’re capable of and play week in and week out so that will be his aim.”
Leander Dendoncker won’t play again for Unai Emery at Aston Villa
Dendoncker had a strange first half of the season will Villa this term as he was seemingly nowhere near Emery’s first-team plans at the start of the campaign before the Belgian midfielder began to feature fairly regularly over the festive period.
But it has become clear that when fit, Emery will always opt to start Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara at the base of midfield, with Youri Tielemans and even John McGinn able to deputise in the event of injury or suspension at Villa Park.
With big plans in place for the summer transfer window, it doesn’t appear that Dendoncker has a place at Villa beyond the end of the season.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton has shared his verdict on Morgan Rogers’ position in Emery’s squad
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