Aston Villa are set to see the return of one of their loan outcasts in the summer with the option to buy reportedly not being triggered.
Villa’s squad is huge. While injury problems have plagued the team, there are plenty of players who Unai Emery doesn’t fancy since joining the Villians.
This has seen seven players sent out on loan this season, many of whom were first-teamers not too long ago.
This is largely due to the form many are in at this stage. Douglas Luiz, Ollie Watkins and John McGinn have all been sensational as Villa Park looks to host Champions League football next season.
However, as a result, players such as Morgan Sanson and Phillipe Coutinho look like they have played their last games for the club.
Former Wolves man Leander Dendoncker was part of the team at the start of the season and even scored past Man United at Old Trafford. However, with him struggling for game time, he was sent out to Seria A side Napoli in January but this has been less than fruitful.
Leander Dendoncker set to return to Aston Villa
Since moving to the Italian side, little has come off for the Belgian international. He has only managed three appearances for Napoli and has only seen 21 minutes on the pitch.
There was hope that the midfielder would be able to secure a permanent move to the club.
However, according to Fabrizio Romano, Napoli are not planning on activating the €9 million option to buy.
This means that Dendoncker will likely return to Villa in the summer and Emery will have to decide what the next steps are.
It has been an unfortunate turn of events with everything pointing towards a transfer all around for both clubs and the player.
Leander Dendoncker is one of many players Aston Villa need to sell
With concerns around FFP hanging over Villa’s head, the club must remove the dead wood from their club.
It is looking very unlikely that Dendoncker will ever play for Villa again after his loan spell and Emery should look to cash in will he still has value.
The Belgian is still a good footballer, the fact is that Villa have just outgrown him over the past season and a half.
This upcoming summer is vital to the club to offload the players Emery does not want to help balance the books.
Dendoncker has been a good servant to Villa. However, the club must move on.
