As widely expected when the deal was announced, Aston Villa will not be getting the €10m from Napoli for Leander Dendoncker this summer.
The midfielder was sent on loan to the Serie A side with an option to buy, but as has nearly always been the case, they never had any intention of triggering it, as explained by Gazzetta dello Sport.
This has happened numerous times in the past, and while they did eventually sign Frank Anguissa from Fulham, they did so with a discount.
The Italian newspaper briefly look at a couple of the loans in place in Naples, and focus on the Aston Villa man.
The 28-year-old has made a measly three appearances since arriving in January, totalling 21 minutes of football, making his contribution to date ‘imperceptible’.
He wasn’t even included in the club’s Champions League registration list, meaning he never got a chance to face Barcelona, and he will be returning to Aston Villa.
That’s because the ‘price of €10m to buy him is for show only’, almost as if it was included for the sake of it, on the huge off chance the Belgium international became a game changer in the space of a few weeks.
This was never going to be the case, and, at this point, Dendoncker would have been better off staying with Unai Emery, where he was getting a bit more football than he is now.
