Aston Villa may not have signed Santiago Beltrán in the summer transfer window, but their interest has caused plenty of alarm bells to ring at River Plate.
And now the Argentine side are scrambling to lock the 22-year-old into a mega new contract that will ward off future interest in their star.
Beltrán was a target for Aston Villa in the summer transfer window as they found themselves needing to replace Emiliano Martinez.
It had initially looked like the goalkeeper would remain at Villa Park, despite signs last year that he was ready to move on.
Instead, he did end up leaving late in the window, joining Chelsea in a low-cost deal and departing Villa Park after several successful years.
Suzuki shines
By that point, Aston Villa had already secured their replacement in Zion Suzuki. He arrived in a €30m deal from Parma. He’s since established himself as the undisputed number one under Unai Emery.
Indeed, after another impressive performance against Manchester City at the weekend, many are now arguing he is almost the perfect goalkeeper. The loss of Martinez has certainly not been felt as keenly as it might have been this season.
Suzuki was not the only name on Aston Villa’s shortlist, though. Various reports throughout this year made it clear that Santiago Beltrán was very much on their radar.
For instance, Sport Witness reported back in July that Villa were eyeing up the Argentine. By September, they were sending officials to Argentina to take a closer look at him.
Earlier this month, it was even reported that Emiliano Martinez had specifically recommended that Aston Villa sign Beltrán. Now River Plate are moving to ensure that doesn’t happen.
$100m asking price
Journalist Sebastián Srur reports that a contract renewal at the club is ‘very advanced’. It seems there are determined to lock down the youngster long before the January transfer window opens.
More importantly, the new deal is set to include a $100m release clause. That’s the equivalent of £75m at the current exchange rate.
Of course, it’s very unlikely that any club would pay that for him. It will be used as more of a benchmark for negotiations than anything else. But it is a striker number for a 22-year-old who is currently rated at £11m by the likes of Transfermarkt.
And it all appears to be due to Aston Villa. They’ve shown interest for a year, and now River Plate are moving to ensure it can’t become something more concrete.
Beltran tiene muy avanzada su renovación de contrato. Cláusula de 100 millones de dólares.
Se avanzo estos días.
Lo conté recién en @splendidam990
#River https://t.co/ItSfPhRyn2— Sebastián Srur (@Sebasrur) October 26, 2026
