‘Monchi to sacrifice Leon Bailey’ as Aston Villa transfer demands emerge
Aston Villa could be about to sacrifice Leon Bailey ahead of their return to competitive action in August.
The Jamaican international endured an unchracteristically poor season last time out, after he had been electric for Unai Emery’s side in 2023/24.
He fell down the Spanish boss’ pecking order towards the end of the Premier League campaign, and that appears to have signalled that his time in B6 could be drawing to a close in the near future.
Bailey has been linked with an exit from Villa Park since the start of the summer, but it seems as though his departure could finally be coming to fruition.
Villa want £30.3m for Bailey amid Fenerbahce interest
Bailey has recently been linked with a move to Fenerbahce, as speculation that he won’t be wearing claret and blue next term begins to mount once again.
The second city outfit have limited spending capacity this summer, but it now seems as though Monchi could be about to engineer the forward’s exit, which would potentially provide a boost to their coffers for the remainder of the window.
Fenerbahce are once again showing an interest in Bailey, and it is now understood that the Villans could be open to allowing him to leave if they receive an offer of £30.3million, according to Turkish outlet Fotomac (15 July).
It remains to be seen whether the Istanbul giants will be willing meet that valuation, but if they are keen to do a deal, Villa could be about to have their spending issues alleviated somewhat.
Villa could upgrade on Bailey
If Emery and Co. have designs on making it back into the top four next term, they need to find a way of being clever in the market in order to improve the squad.
That will mean making ruthless decisions on some of the players already at the club, and Bailey is one of those who could easily be sacrificed.
| Season | Apps | Goals | Assists |
| 2024/25 | 38 | 2 | 4 |
| 2023/24 | 52 | 14 | 13 |
| 2022/23 | 38 | 5 | 4 |
| 2021/22 | 18 | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 146 | 22 | 23 |
The attacker has largely struggled for consistency during his time in the Premier League, and it is fair to say that Villa could upgrade on him with relative ease, especially if they could net a fee in excess of £30m for him.
With that in mind, it must surely be tempting for Monchi to move Bailey on, in the hope that the fee Villa receive can open up the possibility of them being able to bring in top-level quality to strengthen their hand.
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