Aston Villa are open to selling some of their first-team stars to bolster other areas of their squad in this transfer window.
The first half of Aston Villa’s season has gone well beyond the wildest dreams of any supporter.
Unai Emery’s side are currently in second position in the Premier League table, three points behind leaders Liverpool, and eight above sixth place West Ham United.
Their excellent start has seen them move into title contention but their rivals have the edge over them in terms of squad depth and that must be addressed in this window.
Villa have already been linked with attacking reinforcements, including a deal for Leeds United’s Crysencio Summerville and Hellas Verona winger Cryil Ngonge, with the latter ‘verbally accepting’ their bid.
Meanwhile, Micah Richards has called for Emery to sign a backup striker to Ollie Watkins. The Spaniard isn’t fond of that idea as he’s ‘very happy’ with his talisman, though if AC Milan sign Jhon Duran, that will be a position of priority.
If the Villans are to bolster their squad, they’ll need to free up some funds, and that could mean selling some of their underperforming stars.
Aston Villa are open to selling Calum Chambers and Leander Dendoncker
According to the Athletic, Aston Villa are willing to sell both Calum Chambers and Leander Dendoncker in this window while giving opportunities to players in Villa’s under-21 setup to head out on loan and experience first-team game time.
Chambers is currently Villa’s fifth-choice centre-back and the former Arsenal defender has only made two appearances this term, both of which came in the Europa Conference League.
With the likes of Diego Carlos, Ezra Konsa, Pau Torres and now Clement Lenglet fighting for the two spots in the starting XI, the Englishman is surplus to requirements.
Although Dendoncker has enjoyed more game time in the first-team than Chambers, he’s still been used sporadically by Emery.
He’s made 13 appearances across all competitions, but only three of those have been starts, which suggests his manager doesn’t trust him to start more games.
Selling Dendoncker and Chambers would be the correct decision
If Villa are to challenge for the title, they can afford to sell the likes of Dendoncker and Chambers to free up funds elsewhere.
Dendoncker isn’t good enough to play the system deployed by Emery to a high level and has found it an impossible task to dislodge Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz, who have formed an incredible partnership.
In defence, it is a similar story. When fully fit, Torres partners one of Konsa or Carlos at the back with Lenglet waiting in reserve.
This means Chambers doesn’t get a look in and given he’s approaching the peak years of his career, several clubs lower down the table would probably take him in a heart beat.
There is no doubt that this duo possesses quality, Villa have just outgrown them over the last 12 months, and it’s best if they are moved on.
