How Aston Villa's serious defensive problems could cost Barcelona a fortune next season

Aston Villa are one of the most surprising teams in Europe right now. They have had an excellent start to the 2023/24 season: in Conference League they qualified as leaders of Group E with 13 points and went directly to the round of 16, while in Premier League they are on top of the standings with 42 points, along with Liverpool.

Unai Emery's team have shown very good performances that have allowed them to compete with teams with much bigger budgets. However, they have a squad with few alternatives and that has forced the coach to look for solutions to solve some of the problems they have had.

For most of the season, the Villa defenders who have had the most participation are Matthew Cash, Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne. However, injuries, illness and diminishing returns allowed Clement Lenglet to get his chance a few weeks ago. Since then he played against Sheffield United, Manchester United and Burnley.

But there the team showed defensive problems and conceded a lot of goals. And the French defender did not live up to expectations. In fact, this Saturday boss Emery replaced him after 16 minutes of the second half by Pau Torres, when the Villans were leading 2-1.

How does this affect Barcelona?

Clement Lenglet arrived at Aston Villa this summer, on loan for a season from Barcelona. At the Catalan side he was not being taken into account by Xavi Hernandez and the club's chiefs wanted to sell him to get rid of his expensive contract that expires in 2026. In addition, it would help solve financial fair-play problems. Los Blaugranas' intention was that Lenglet would perform well in the Premier League and that Aston Villa would decide to buy him next summer, but if his performances do not improve that will not happen.