Aston Villa director of football Roberto Olabe has ‘revitalised’ their interest in Celta Vigo defender Óscar Mingueza.
That’s according to Sport, who cover the defender today. They report that Olabe is going to follow his Aston Villa predecessor Monchi’s plan to sign the defender.
The newspaper explains that Mingueza’s future seems, at the moment, to lie far away from Vigo. His contract expires on June 30th, and he’s already closed the door on a possible renewal. He’s eager for a change of scenery and has been free to negotiate with clubs from January 1st.
Offers are starting to pour in, including one from Juventus. Talks between Vigo and the Italian giants are believed to have intensified. They would even be looking to bring him to Turin in the January transfer window.
Celta have blocked any possibility of a negotiation, insisting Mingueza’s €20m release clause be paid. They’ll only get half of that figure due to Barcelona owning a 50% re-sale clause anyway.
Aston Villa are also in the picture. They first showed interest in him when Monchi was their sporting director. He even travelled to Spain on several occasions to monitor his progress.
Olabe blowing the dust off Aston Villa plan
The plan to sign him remains in place and has been ‘revitalised’ by Olabe. He replaced Monchi at Villa Park last year. And he’s now planning another attempt to sign the Barcelona youth product. The key to their interest is Unai Emery, who admires the defender.
The good news for Aston Villa too, is that Mingueza isn’t ruling anything out. Not even a move in January. He is attracted to the idea of moving to the Premier League. That could open the door to a move, even if Celta are reluctant to see their defender leave this month.
They need to choose between a potential fee this month or nothing at all in the summer. It’s up to Olabe to do the convincing.
