Barcelona will ‘try to sell’ Clément Lenglet once he returns from his loan spell at Aston Villa, according to today’s Sport.
The centre-back joined the Villans on a season-long loan deal and was initially overlooked by Unai Emery. He had to wait until December to make his first league appearance for Aston Villa.
AC Milan were keen on signing the 28-year-old in the winter market but Aston Villa didn’t let him leave.
The Frenchman has featured regularly for Aston Villa for more than a month, starting in the last six league games and making two more appearances in the FA Cup.
Barca have four recognised centre-backs in the squad and also youngster Pau Cubarsí. In addition to this, there’s Lenglet and Eric García, with the latter on loan at Girona.
This made it difficult for Barcelona to sell him last summer, resulting in a loan move to Aston Villa in the end.
The former Sevilla man has become indisputable under Emery now and the newspaper says his ‘good performances’ this season could convince Aston Villa to ‘take the step’ to buy him in the summer.
This feels more like Barca’s hope, rather than Aston Villa having a firm desire to retain Lenglet. However, they could always take advantage of that…
