Clement Lenglet is one of the players in the books of FC Barcelona who commanded a very high salary but was surplus to the requirements of the team. As a result, keeping him at the club was a very expensive affair, and Barcelona wanted to permanently part with the player as he returned from a loan at Tottenham Hotspurs last summer.
However, the Catalans were unable to find any suitors who could pay the amount at which they valued the Frenchman and thus had to be content with sending him on another loan, this time to Aston Villa.
Playing under Unai Emery, the French defender’s season has not gone exactly as planned, as he is not getting a very prominent role in the team. He was unable to make his debut in the Premier League until matchday 18 and has only three league appearances up to now.
However, he has played a more important part in the UEFA Conference league, having appeared in five of six group-stage games played.
Owing to this lack of prominence, there were reports of Barcelona looking to terminate his loan at Aston Villa and sending him to AC Milan for the rest of the season. However, as Mundo Deportivo has reported, Unai Emery has closed the door on any such undertaking, as he wants to retain the experienced defender.
This desire of Emery’s was clear from some of the comments he made to the media recently:
“Lenglet is a great professional. He even came to train when the players had a day off. I spoke with Lenglet and conveyed that I’m very happy with him.”
Emery went on to clarify that his club has a contract with Lenglet till the end of the season, and nothing has changed in this regard:
“It’s needed, the team needs it right now. We agreed on a contract between the club and him to help us. In my opinion, nothing has changed in this relationship.”
Thus, from Emery’s recent comments, it seems likely that Lenglet will fulfil his loan contract at Aston Villa. Hopefully, he can get more playing time in this second half of the season, so Barcelona can find suitors willing to pay for him in the next summer transfer window.
