Aston Villa look set to complete the sale of defender Diego Carlos after a summer that has shown why Unai Emery must sell the Brazilian.
Unai Emery‘s squad is taking shape ahead of Aston Villa’s Premier League opener away at West Ham in less than a week.
Eight players have arrived at Villa Park this summer, with Amadou Onana and Ian Maatsen the two marquee arrivals so far this transfer window.
There have been a couple of significant departures too, with Aston Villa left with little choice but to sell Douglas Luiz to Juventus due to PSR reasons and Moussa Diaby leaving for Saudi Arabia in a £60 million deal.
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Now, it looks as though Emery could sanction the sale of another first-team player, with Diego Carlos closing in on an exit.
Diego Carlos ‘close’ to leaving Aston Villa for Fulham
Carlos was signed by Emery’s predecessor, with Steven Gerrard the man in charge when the club secured a £26 million deal for the centre-back in summer 2022.
It was viewed as an impressive coup at the time, but a season-ending injury shortly after arriving followed by an indifferent season last campaign looks to have spelled the end of the 31-year-old’s time at Villa Park.
That is according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, who posted on ‘X’: “Understand Fulham and Aston Villa are close to reaching an agreement for Diego Carlos!
“Talks at very advanced stages between clubs, still some work to do on structure of the deal and personal terms.
“Fulham, pushing a lot for Diego.”
Aston Villa right to sell Carlos this summer despite ‘outstanding’ Gary Neville claim
It is fair to say that Carlos’ time at Villa has been largely underwhelming after the initial excitement of the transfer.
Injury in his first season cannot be helped, but Carlos did not show the kind of form that led to Gary Neville labelling the defender ‘immense’ and ‘outstanding’ on Sky Sports commentary duty in the 2-0 win over Arsenal in April regularly enough.
The defender made 20 Premier League starts last season and could prove to be a useful asset for Fulham, but his bizarre sending off in the first-half against RB Leipzig during Villa’s tour of the United States was likely the final straw for Emery.
The Spanish coach likes players he can trust and rely on and Carlos’ pre-season sending off after allowing his temper to boil over showed Emery that the Brazilian’s time at the club was over.
