Credit: Imago

James Barker

Fri 3 April 2026 16:10, UK

Alex Moreno left Aston Villa to sign for Girona on a permanent transfer last August, but the left-back isn’t enjoying an overly impressive debut season for them.

Joining Villa back in January 2023, Moreno endured an inconsistent opening 18 months at Villa Park.

After starting 14 of his first 19 Premier League appearances in the second half of the 2022-23 campaign, the Spaniard largely played well and looked a shrewd acquisition.

However, the following season saw him lose his grip on a place in Unai Emery‘s starting XI, with just 11 of his 21 top-flight appearances coming from the start.

And so, after a fairly uninspiring loan spell with Nottingham Forest last season, Villa decided to commission a permanent transfer exit for Moreno last summer.

How has Alex Moreno performed for Girona this season?

Moreno had been tipped to stay in the Premier League when the rumours first began to circle over another exit for him last summer, but he eventually found his way back to La Liga.

Indeed, the 32-year-old had spent his entire career in Spain prior to joining Villa, enjoying spells with the likes of Mallorca, Elche, Rayo Vallecano and Real Betis respectively.

He has been getting more regular football under his belt once again back in his homeland this season, having started 20 times out of his 23 La Liga appearances so far this term.

But, whilst he’s on the pitch more often now than what he was with Villa, Moreno hasn’t quite been able to make that pay with regards to his production and underlying stats.

Whilst he has been able to provide three assists, as per Sofascore, Moreno has a crossing accuracy of just 10 per cent, is dribbled past on average 0.8 times per game and wins just 1.0 tackles per game too.

He also has made one error leading to a goal, conceded a penalty, is posting a 51 per cent dribble success rate and has won just 49 per cent of his total duels, as well as conceding possession an average of 11.3 times per game.

So, he’s certainly not been bad for Girona this season, and has actually been fairly solid for them, but given his Premier League pedigree and past exploits in La Liga, he surely would’ve liked to post better numbers than those.

Would Moreno have a role in this current Villa team?

Aston Villa probably won’t be having any regrets over selling Moreno last summer, but would the Spaniard have found a sizeable role in Emery’s side had he stayed in B6 this year?

Well, most likely not, and for a couple of reasons. The first of those being the fact that Villa already have a proven veteran left-back in Lucas Digne.

The Frenchman, whilst perhaps his best, has still carved out 18 starts from 26 Premier League appearances this season, and has contributed four assists to the Villa cause as well.

Then there’s Ian Maatsen, and whilst he can be inconsistent, the 24-year-old has been largely impressive this term, and looks to be a safe and viable long-term starter at left-back for the Villans.

So, Moreno would’ve probably been third-choice at the left-back position at best in 2025-26, and so for that reason, there’s surely no regrets from either camp over his move to Girona.