Arriving on loan from Milan in January, Pepe Reina immediately became the starter at Aston Villa between the sticks.
The veteran goalkeeper was brought in to try and help Dean Smith’s side in their fight against relegation, and the manager felt the player’s experience would go a long way behind a relatively young defence.
The 37-year-old performed well, but was unable to avoid a bad run of form before the Covid-19 pandemic that saw Aston Villa sit in the bottom three, albeit with a game in hand.
With no option in the loan deal to make the move permanent, any chance of a full on transfer to Villa Park would have needed negotiations to start from scratch, but there’s been no indication from the Premier League side they are interested in doing so.
That’s what the player’s agent, Manuel Garcia Quilon, told Foot Mercato on Thursday.
He said: “We’ve had no contact with Paris Saint-Germain (who were reportedly interested). No one has called us. He has a year left with Milan. We wanted an agreement so that he was free in the summer. No contract has been offered to him in England and Milan want him to come back. Reina has a contract with Milan. If Milan want him to come back, he needs to go back.”
That pretty much clears up the future of Pepe Reina, as the Serie A side currently hold all of the power when it comes to the veteran.
We’ll have to wait and see if Aston Villa’s stance changes in the coming weeks, but them spending money on a 37-year-old goalkeeper seems unlikely at this stage.
