Aston Villa ‘accepted the only condition imposed by Barcelona’ for Mateu Alemany so that they could ensure they got a deal for him over the line.
That’s according to AS, who say the Villans were more than happy to accept Alemany continuing to lead Barcelona’s talks with La Liga over Financial Fair Play.
The Spanish director of football is set to join Unai Emery at Villa Park as Aston Villa’s new director of football imminently, with Barcelona already announcing his departure yesterday.
The move came as something of a shock given the relative statures of the club, with it explained in Spain earlier today why he had decided to make the move.
Most of it appeared to be down to the financial side and the freedom he would be given by Aston Villa and AS cover it today.
They say talks between Villa and Alemany have been taking place since the beginning of the year, with those in charge of the Villans having put their faith in a Spanish project alongside Emery in their quest to return to Europe and close the gap on the top six.
Thus, they moved for Alemany and will have him from July 1st, although they did have to accept one condition for the move to happen.
Barcelona were only willing to accept Alemany leaving by mutual agreement a year ahead of his contract ending if Aston Villa allowed him to ‘keep the dialogue’ between themselves and La Liga open so that they can comply with Financial Fair Play.
Aston Villa were more than willing to accept that because of the ‘confidence’ they have in the director of football and his ability to lead their project alongside Emery.
