Premier League club not ruling out the permanent signing of Barcelona loanee – report

Coming into the January transfer window, there had been a lot of talk about Clement Lenglet’s loan stint at Aston Villa being cut short by Barcelona as the defender was not playing regularly enough.

AC Milan were among the clubs showing an interest in signing the French international, but Aston Villa always maintained that they wanted to keep the centre-back at the club.

Aston Villa not ruling out permanent purchase

Since then, Lenglet’s situation has taken a dramatic turnaround at the Villa Park, so much so that Aston Villa are now not ruling out the possibility of signing him permanently from Barcelona in the summer, reports SPORT.

An injury to Pau Torres in December opened the doors for Lenglet to get regular minutes under Unai Emery and the Barcelona loanee has made the most of his opportunities, so much so that he has been retained in the side despite the former’s return to fitness.

Up until December, Lenglet was a regular for Villa only in their Europa Conference League matches and had not been used in the Premier League.

Things have changed drastically now as the defender has started each of the Midlands club’s previous nine league matches.

And the idea of retaining him beyond the season is not ruled out, with manager Emery being an admirer of the 28-year-old’s ball-playing and distribution abilities.

Lenglet’s contract with Barcelona runs until the summer of 2026, but he has no place in the club’s plans and a permanent exit will be sought in the summer. Whether Aston Villa decide to sign him up or not will be interesting to see.