Credit: Manh Tung - Breaking Media

James Barker

Thu 19 March 2026 8:10, UK

Kosta Nedeljkovic has been linked with a move to Valencia in the summer, as his disastrous loan spell with RB Leipzig looks sure to seal his Aston Villa fate.

According to a report from Spanish outlet Levante EMV, Valencia are keen on signing both Nedeljkovic and Andres Garcia when the summer transfer window re-opens in June.

Nedeljkovic signed for Aston Villa in January 2024 from Red Star Belgrade, with the right-back only being a teenager at the time.

However, his Villa transfer hasn’t worked out for the now-20-year-old Serbian international, and has been playing his football out on loan with German side RB Leipzig since February of last year.

How has Kosta Nedeljkovic fared on loan with RB Leipzig?

With Valencia eyeing up a move for Nedeljkovic, the defender looks primed to leave Villa Park this summer, cutting short what was supposed to be a successful career with the Villans.

The full-back has made 10 total appearances for Villa, all of which came in the 2024-25 season, with five being in the Premier League and the other half coming in various cup competitions respectively.

He joined RB Leipzig on loan in February 2025, and after making 11 appearances for the Bundesliga giants in the second half of last season, re-joined them in this season’s summer window, this time for the duration of the campaign.

Unfortunately though, Nedeljkovic’s second stint in Germany has been even less fruitful than the first, as he’s made just six total appearances for Leipzig in all competitions this term.

As per Sofascore, Nedeljkovic has played zero key passes or created any big chances in the Bundesliga this season, and has just one clean sheet from his five league appearances.

He’s also averaging just 0.2 tackles per game, is being dribbled past 0.6 times per game, has completed no successful dribbles of his own and has a total duels won number of a mere 27 per cent.

The positives are that he’s made zero errors leading to goals and is recording a good passing accuracy of 87 per cent, but aside from that, his numbers are largely a disappointing read.

Aston Villa need a natural deputy to Matty Cash

If there’s one area to be developing as a young defender at Aston Villa at the moment, it’s certainly at the full-back spot.

Lucas Digne is ageing and Ian Maatsen is yet to really take the bull by the horns there, meanwhile on the opposite flank, Matty Cash is Villa’s only natural and senior right-back, with Lamare Bogarde largely unconvincing when filling in there this season.

Therefore, had Nedeljkovic’s Leipzig loan been more of a success, then the young Serbian may well have had a major opportunity to return to Villa Park this summer and stake his claim for the backup right-back role moving forward.

However, that’s simply not been the case, as injury problems combined with largely poor performances make him seem difficult to trust as being ready to take on that responsibility from next season onwards.