On Tuesday, Mundo Deportivo reported Aston Villa director Monchi was in attendance at the Montjuïc to watch Barcelona beat Valencia last weekend.
Mundo also contacted Monchi, who made it clear the visit had ‘nothing to do with any matter to be discussed, not at the moment’.
As we pointed out, with Monchi being Monchi, it was likely the Aston Villa official was up to something related to transfers and today’s edition of Mundo Deportivo backs that up.
It’s claimed the Spaniard was at the Montjuïc [Barca’s home stadium as the Camp Nou is under renovation] to ‘spy on players’. However, the newspaper doesn’t provide any further details of which players he was monitoring.
Monchi was in Barca’s directors’ box, and the newspaper points out there was no scheduled appointment for his visit, and he only needed an accreditation from the Catalan club.
Recent claims have talked about Aston Villa’s interest in Jules Koundé and his latest visit had sparked rumours around the defender, but that seems unlikely.
Barca’s Clément Lenglet is on loan at Villa Park, and Mundo state Monchi didn’t travel to Spain to discuss the former Sevilla man’s future. They add if he isn’t retained, Unai Emery would request the Villans sign a new centre-back in the summer.
Despite Monchi’s admission, Mundo now made it clear that the Aston Villa chief was on a transfer mission, and not to discuss the Lenglet case.
Maybe Valencia was the team specifically being watched, despite the initial assumptions being Barcelona related.
