After an impressive season, this summer is likely to be another busy one for Aston Villa as they look to kick on next year.
The key to that will be moving players on, and one at the top of that list is striker Aly Samatta, who is currently on loan at Fenerbahce in Turkey.
He’s struggled to find any kind of form or happiness with the Super Lig side, though, who aren’t keen to keep him beyond the end of his loan.
Now that’s something of a problem as they agreed to a compulsory purchase option when signing him last summer.
They need to find a way out of that if they can, and Belgian side Genk could provide a solution to the issue.
Fotospor explain their ‘goal’ this summer is to bring the striker, who managed 76 goals in 191 games for the club during a four-year spell before joining Aston Villa last year, back to the club.
They’ve been in touch with Fenerbahce to make that happen, and the Turkish side responded, asking for €8.5m.
That figure would help them to cover the €6m they will have to pay Aston Villa and make a little profit, but Genk refused, saying such a figure was ‘out of the question’.
They argued that even when Samatta was their top goalscorer, they only managed to get €10.5m from Aston Villa for him, so he’s not worth anything near that now.
Instead, they offered €2.5m and a swap deal, which would include either Joseph Paintsil or Mats Daehli as part of the bargain.
Fenerbahce aren’t interested in that, though, and instead stated that a deal would only happen if Theo Bongonda was sent the other way. Genk did not respond to this proposal.
Thus, it seems Samatta will be making the move to Fenerbahce in the summer, although they seem absolutely determined to either make sure that doesn’t happen, or they don’t lose out on the €6m they owe Aston Villa for him.
