Broken by L’Equipe on Thursday that a transfer to Aston Villa for Björn Engels could be done very quickly, we find out they were right.
RMC Sport journalist Loic Tanzi is reporting on Friday afternoon that the Belgian defender ‘will be signing’ for the Villains in a deal that will see the Ligue 1 side make €10m.
Purchasing him from Olympiakos for £3.6m after a very successful loan spell last season, the French minnows have now more than doubled their money in the space of a couple of weeks.
It’s also revealed that when agreeing to join Reims, Engels had been given the promise by the club that ‘if an English club came in with a nice offer’, then the board would not stand in his way.
Björn Engels (Reims) va signer à Aston Villa pour 10 millions d'euros. Les dirigeants rémois ont tenu la parole qu'ils avaient donné au joueur lors de sa signature. Si un club anglais arrivait avec une belle offre, les dirigeants ne s'opposeraient pas au départ. #Mercato
— Loïc Tanzi (@Tanziloic) July 12, 2019
Needing to bolster their defence considerably after gaining promotion to the Premier League, Aston Villa have done just that.
They first ensured both Kortney Hause and Tyrone Mings stayed at Villa Park after loan spells from Wolverhampton and Bournemouth respectively, and then bought Ezri Konsa from Brentford for £13.6m.
Now, it’s Björn Engels for €10m.
Dean Smith will be a happy man.
