Aston Villa defender agreed to deadline day exit as club blamed for collapse
Aston Villa had one of the quieter deadline days in the Premier League.
Unai Emery’s side had got their business done well in advance of the window closing, with Douglas Luiz, Tammy Abraham, Alysson and Brian Madjo signing for the club.
This meant there were no surprise signings at Villa Park on Monday. However, there were some outgoings, which did not have much effect on the first team.
Louie Barry sealed a loan move away, with the 22-year-old rejoining Stockport County.
Meanwhile, Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba also left to join West Brom on loan, just days after scoring in the Europa League for the Villans.
However, there was an interesting transfer saga involving a currently out-on-loan Aston Villa star on deadline day as well.
Kosta Nedeljkovic was close to joining Fiorentina
Kosta Nedeljkovic signed for Aston Villa in January 2024, but would not join the club until the end of that season.
His time at the club has not been great since. In his first season, he played just 10 games in all competitions and struggled to displace Matty Cash in the starting lineup.
After less than a year in the first-team squad, the Serbian was sent out on loan to RB Leipzig in January 2025, and that loan was extended seven months later for the 2025-2026 season.
In Germany, he got more game time, featuring in 10 of the 14 available Bundesliga games in his initial loan, but that has not been the case this season.
Nedeljkovic has found his playing time few and far between, and that led to Fiorentina enquiring about signing the player.
According to Gianluca Di Marzio, the deal was close to being done.
The journalist says that the “player had in fact signed the contract just a few minutes before 8:00pm, the deadline for submitting all the documents.”
However, RB Leipzig was the reason the switch was not finalised, with the German club deciding to keep him instead.
Nedeljkovic was also supposed to move to Valencia, but work permit issues prevented that from happening.
Nedeljkovic’s loan hasn’t gone to plan for Aston Villa
From an Aston Villa perspective, Nedeljkovic’s move has not been good for the club.
The full-back has barely featured this season, only receiving 297 minutes of football for Leipzig. However, it does have to be said that he did sustain a knee injury keeping him out. for over a month.
He only started his first game this season back in December.
Whether the Premier League club had intended on keeping the player following the loan, or moving him on after, the latter option is now certainly not as lucrative as it could have been
To put into context how poor the move has been for all parties, Nedeljkovic in all competitions has played just 20 minutes more than Harvey Elliott.
Of course, Villa would have been aware of Fiorentina’s plans and likely would have sanctioned his loan being switched.
It would have given them a chance to increase the value of the player or even give him enough minutes to prove he is ready to feature next season.
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