Royal Antwerp director of football Marc Overmars has revealed that Senne Lammens turned down Aston Villa despite a deal being agreed between the two clubs for him.
Voetbal Primeur cover comments from the Dutchman today, made in an interview with Gazet van Antwerpen, regarding a busy summer for the Dutch club.
Lammens was one of their major departures at the end of the window, joining Manchester United in a €21m deal on deadline day of the summer transfer window.
It was a dramatic situation around the 23-year-old as he was initially linked with a move to Aston Villa, who had expected to be replacing Emiliano Martinez following his emotional farewell to Villa Park at the end of last season.
He had been linked with a move to Manchester United, but they never seriously entered for him, with the only offer being a loan deal that was swiftly turned down by Aston Villa.
Lammens then instead ended up at Manchester United, who moved on Andre Onana to Trabzonspor in Türkiye to make space for a replacement.
Overmars has now revealed the various negotiations that were ongoing, including with Aston Villa, who Lammens didn’t want to join.
“With Manchester United, we started as losers on deadline day,” he said.
“We had a deal with Aston Villa, but Martínez still had to leave, and Senne didn’t want to go there. Only then did Man United make their first offer. Lower than Aston Villa. Four hours later, we finally reached an agreement.”
