In less than two weeks, Aston Villa’s recruitment team will open for business during the January transfer window.
Unai Emery, who replaced Steven Gerrard as manager 13 months ago, may add a few players to his team as he continues to mold it. In the most recent January transfer window, he brought in just two players: Jhon Duran and Alex Moreno.
Moreno turned out to be a game-changing addition, and Duran serves as Ollie Watkins’ backup. In order to make room for new players in the forthcoming window, Villa may decide to unload certain members of their first squad.
Leander Dendoncker
Before last weekend, when he played 24 minutes in the team’s final league match against Arsenal, the midfield player had only played seven minutes of Premier League football in his four outings. Under Emery, he has made 11 appearances overall this season, but until Boubacar Kamara is hurt, he won’t get many match minutes.
Even yet, Dendoncker’s future at Villa Park is uncertain since Youri Tielemans can be chosen to partner Douglas Luiz in the double pivot. He came to the team from Wolves the previous year, but if he’s wanted this January, he might go.
When Dendoncker took Kamara’s position in a few games last season, he made an impression, but he hasn’t fully seized the chance to step in this season. He was hooked at the half in both the Villa Park tight victory over Zrinjski Mostar and the Carabao Cup loss to Everton.
Iroegbunam Tim
Iroegbunam, who hasn’t played a single game this season, is probably going to quit Emery’s team in January. After recovering from an injury last month, he was only included in the Premier League matchday squad once, during the team’s 3-1 victory over Luton Town.
The 20-year-old played 32 games and scored twice while on loan at Queens Park Rangers during the previous season. Villa may grant him a permanent departure and apply a buy-back clause, similar to what they did with the sales of Aaron Ramsey, Cameron Archer, and Jaden Philogene during the summer.
Chambers, Calum
Since Emery replaced Steven Gerrard as manager of the Premier League last season, Chambers has only started one match, and that came during Tyrone Mings’ absence from the team’s trip to Manchester City. This season, he has only made three appearances for Villa: on Thursday night at Zrinjski Mostar, away at Legia Warsaw, and against Hibernian.
Chambers has played in 31 games for Villa since joining the team in January of last year.
Kortney Hause
Hause is done with Villa, even though his contract is set to expire in 2025. He was left off of the team’s 25-man roster for the 2023–24 campaign and is eligible to leave in January.
After making an early return from his loan spell at Watford last season, he was declared available for move in the summer. After undergoing surgery for an injury, the defender hasn’t played in a competitive match since mid-September of 2022.
Traore, Bertrand
Only two Premier League outings have Traore made this season; he played a total of 10 minutes in each of the meetings against Burnley and Luton. After his loan stint at Istanbul Basaksehir ended in January of this year, he returned to Villa and immediately made an impression, scoring the game-winning goal against Leicester and the first goal in the 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at home.
Villa has a few injuries to their attacking players, but Traore is unlikely to start many games because Emery has depth at forward positions. This will be Villa’s last chance to recover a money for their winger because his contract expires at the end of the current campaign.
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