Aston Villa director of football Monchi is now only willing to pay €15m for Barcelona youngster Héctor Fort, despite offering €25m for him in the summer.
That’s according to El Nacional, who report that Monchi has lowered his tolerance for the player despite his previous desire to take him to Aston Villa.
They explain that Monchi has long liked the Barcelona youngster and tried to sign the 18-year-old right-back in the summer, showing a willingness to spend as much as €25m on him.
Fort is one the ‘great promises’ coming out of La Masia and has already debuted in the first team, putting in ‘outstanding performances’ as well.
He hasn’t had the impact that players like Lamine Yamal or Pau Cubarsí have had but he is still considered one for the future and a player to keep an eye on.
Monchi moved to try and get him for Aston Villa and held talks with Joan Laporta and Deco, going as far as to present a formal offer of €25m.
That was considered a ‘very significant amount’ for the defender given he hadn’t accumulated more than 10 games at the Camp Nou. Barcelona weren’t interested in a sale, though, so it never happened.
Since then, Fort has not featured much under Hansi Flick, who has handed him just 71 minutes of action across five games and all of those as a substitute.
That’s opened up the door to a possible exit and Aston Villa would still be interested. In fact, Unai Emery continues to recommend the operation to Monchi.
However, they would no longer be willing to go beyond €15m and if Fort continues to be sidelined, that would drop to €10m.
Now, we should point out that El Nacional regularly offer up wild, outlandish transfer claims so it’s worth taking this with a pinch of salt.
Those are always based on things outside of Barcelona, though, and given this is more Catalan focused and certainly low-key, we’re willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
