Aston Villa told to ‘meet in the middle’ to agree Leander Dendoncker exit amid Everton update
Aston Villa and Everton will have to “meet in the middle” to agree a deal to allow Leander Dendoncker to leave Villa Park permanently, according to Alan Hutton.
The Belgian has enjoyed a miserable season having barely played under Unai Emery in the first half of the campaign before struggling to make an impact whilst on loan with Napoli following his temporary January switch.
It already appears unlikely the Serie A giants will make the 29-year-old’s stay permanent at the end of the season and new reports have suggested that Sean Dyche and Everton are keen to bring him to Goodison Park this summer [Football Insider, 14 April].
While Hutton believes Villa will be keen to hold out for a “top fee”, he admits that the Toffees’ current financial situation could force Emery to negotiate with Dyche to find an arrangement that suits all parties involved in the transfer.
“I think it will be a bit of both,” Hutton told Villa News.
“Villa will want a top fee and if it’s Everton, they will want to pay as little as possible. It’s always the same and you normally just meet in the middle.
“That’s when it becomes difficult to sit here and try to put a price on someone who’s a decent player, you know what he’s capable of but he’s not played the football that he would have wanted. He’s not been a regular in the Villa team for a long time now.
“He’s had to go on loan so it has been a difficult spell for him, plus we don’t know where Everton will end up come the end of the season so that will have a big factor on it as well.”
Will Leander Dendoncker leave Aston Villa and Unai Emery for Everton in the summer transfer window?
It has been clear for some time that Emery simply doesn’t fancy Dendoncker at Villa Park. The Belgian barely featured in the first half of the season and when he did, he was slammed by pundits for poor performances against Manchester United and Arsenal.
Even with Boubacar Kamara sidelined through injury, the Villans haven’t missed the 29-year-old during his loan spell and it is obvious that a transfer away from Villa would be the perfect solution for everyone involved.
Whether Everton will be able to match Emery’s valuation of the midfielder remains to be seen, but you would have to assume that Villa would be willing to accept a cut-price offer if it helped them get his wages off of the books.
Maybe there could be a late twist when Dendoncker returns to Villa Park at the end of the season. At this moment in time, however, the Belgian is almost certainly finished under Emery.
In other Aston Villa news, transfer interest in Emi Martinez will “never go away” as a “big money” Villa Park exit has been mooted
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