Unai Emery top target: Aston Villa final seal deal with player ahead of transfer deadline
While many a Premier League club is facing a race against time getting bodies through the door before Friday’s 11pm deadline, Aston Villa can rest a little easier.
Unai Emery must feel like one of those over-prepared university students heading towards the end of term. While the likes of Leicester City and Newcastle United spend the final 24 hours stocking up on Red Bulls and pulling all-nighters, Emery’s Aston Villa can sit back, relax and know that their job is done.
Well, almost done.
Aston Villa have already secured seven signings, including Amarou Onana, Ian Maatsen and the returning Ross Barkley.
There is still time for number eight, however.
It’s understood that Aston Villa have agreed a deal in principle with Feyenoord that will see 14-time Dutch international Lutsharel Geertruida move to the Midlands before Saturday’s visit to Leicester.
Villa are due to pay £35 million, including add-ons. A superb fee for his current employers, given that Geertuida’s contract expires in 2025.
Personal terms have also been agreed with Geertruida himself, the uber-versatile defender who captained Arne Slot’s Feyenoord side during much of last season and helped claim the Eredivisie title in 2023.
Aston Villa agree terms with Feyenoord’s Lutsharel Geertruida
Feyenoord – like all Dutch clubs – are used to seeing star players leave on an annual basis.
And, determined to leave nothing to chance, Rotterdam-based publication 1908 reports that Feyenoord have already put out the feelers for Geertruida’s replacement. They want Asger Sorensen, and a positive relationship between them and Sparta Prague should help smooth through any negotiations.
Feyenoord, after all, have already brought David Hancko and head coach Brian Priske to De Kuip from the Czech giants.
Geertruida is most comfortable at centre-half or at right-back, but he has been seen at left-back on occasions too.
To quote reporter Mike Verweij – speaking on De Telegraaf’s Kick Off podcast after Feyenoord beat PSV Eindhoven on penalties to secure the Johan Cruyff Shield this month – Feyenoord would not be losing a single player but three defenders rolled into one.
“I thought he was really amazing in the match for the Johan Cruyff Shield, where he was everywhere,” Verweij says. “He can simply play in any position.”
Feyenoord hero Mario Been, meanwhile, is convinced that the 24-year-old academy graduate is ripe for a step up to a new – and better – league.
“Just try to stop a boy like that”, Been tells ESPN. “Of course he wants to make a step to a big competition. Is he ready for that?
“Absolutely. Definitely.”
Enzo Barrenechea could leave before Friday’s deadline
At Aston Villa, Geertruida – who was a target for West Ham too before they brought in Jean-Clair Todibo – appears most likely to play as a right-back.
Matty Cash feels the most vulnerable member of Emery’s backline, especially with Ezri Konsa firmly established now as one of the Premier League’s most reliable right-sided centre-halves.
The Champions League newcomers could also loan out one of their existing summer signings before the window closes. Samuel Iling-Junior recently returned to Serie A for a spell with Bologna.
The man who arrived alongside Iling-Junior from Juventus – Enzo Barrenechea – is available on a short-term deal too, although a proposed move to Spanish giants Valencia appears to have collapsed.
“At the moment, the operation is not going well,” Valencia director Miguel Angel Corona tells DAZN. “I can’t give arguments (as to why). We always have alternatives to the market.
“(We are also satisfied) with a squad of twenty players, and we already have that. From there, I don’t know what can happen in two days, because the last hours (of the window) are hectic.”
