Credit: Imago

Diego Carlos exit: Aston Villa star to touch down for transfer today

Mon 20 January 2025 11:10, UK

Diego Carlos will arrive in Turkey to sign for Fenerbahce from Aston Villa on Monday, according to Servan Hamzaoglu.

The HaberGlobal Spor journalist posted on X that Carlos will arrive in Istanbul later on 20 January ahead of completing health checks and signing on the dotted line with the SuperLig club.

Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce have been keen on the 31-year-old since the start of January and have agreed a fee of close to £10million, which they’ll pay over four years (Yagiz Sabuncuoglu).

Aston Villa must be ready to react after Diego Carlos exit

Though Carlos was far from first-choice whenever Unai Emery had a full-fit squad at his disposal, the Brazilian was usually the first cab off the rank when it came to an enforced defensive reshuffle.

If any one of Villa’s central or right-sided defenders dropped out of the side, that usually meant Carlos coming in, either to cover for an absent centre-back or to facilitate Ezri Konsa moving to the right edge.

As a result, Emery will need to add rearguard reinforcements before 3 February if and when the 31-year-old’s transfer to Fenerbahce is confirmed, leaving Villa with just two weeks to get a deal done.

Sevilla’s Loic Bade – the subject of a possible swap deal with Carlos – has emerged as their main centre-back target, but movement is yet to occur and there’s now little chance of Carlos going the other way.