Aston Villa to take big financial hit thanks to Gerrard transfer howler

Aston Villa's summer transfer window keeps going from bad to worse.

Marco Bizot is the only new arrival that will be part of Unai Emery's squad for next season up until this point, and with all due respect to the goalkeeper, it is not a signing that will get Villa back into the Champions League.

After only officially joining in the summer, Yasin Ozcan has been allowed to leave on loan to Anderlecht, with the Turkish teenager not set to feature at Villa Park anytime soon.

Now, a transfer that was actioned by Steven Gerrard during his forgettable tenure in charge is coming back to bite Villa again this summer.

Villa struggling to shift Dendoncker

Amidst the lack of incomings, several key players have also been linked with moves away from B6 such as Ollie Watkins and Emi Martinez.

Whilst there would never be a shortage of clubs to take players of their quality off Villa's hands, they are struggling to find a new club for Leander Dendoncker.

Dendoncker has been loaned away from Villa on two separate occasions since he arrived in 2022, firstly to Napoli in January 2024, before spending last season on loan at Anderlecht.

• The Belgian made the move from Wolves to Villa back in 2022 under Gerrard
• Cost around £13million
• Started a combined 10 Premier League matches across two seasons with Villa

According to a report from Nieuwsblad Sport (5 August), Villa are expected to try and reach an agreement with Dendoncker to terminate his contract by the end of August.

As this would cost money, the Villans would rather not do that and hope a club comes in for the player, but this is looking unlikely as there is currently no interest in the 30-year-old.

The Belgian is far from being involved in Emery's squad over pre-season and is currently training with the U21s.

This is a transfer Gerrard wanted done and the terms of the deal are now haunting Villa.

Villa must invest this summer

It's easy to forget how far Villa have come in such a short period under Emery, and Dendoncker is almost a representation of this underwhelming past era.

If the NWSE Group want their Spanish manager to keep Villa competing in the upper echelons of the Premier League and in Europe, they simply must back him in the window.

The lack of urgency has been concerning for the Villa faithful, who will be hoping they can hijack a deal to bring Marco Asensio back to the club.

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