Barcelona star could follow Mateu Alemany to Aston Villa

Aston Villa are working on completing the deal to hire Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany.

The Blaugrana confirmed on Thursday that Alemany would depart Camp Nou on June 30. A number of reasons have been speculated for his exit a year before his contract was due to expire.

It has been claimed Alemany wasn’t on the same wavelength as other senior figures at Barca with regard to Lionel Messi’s return. He wasn’t completely convinced with the club’s plan to go all out for their former superstar amid the ongoing financial crisis and pending contract registrations of young talents Gavi and Ronald Araujo.

Another reason behind his exit is understood to be the financial strength of the Premier League outfit. As per Fabrizio Romano, it was ‘impossible’ for Barcelona to match Villa’s proposal.

Barcelona star could follow Alemany to Aston Villa this summer

Alemany will join the Birmingham-based outfit in a “senior football position” and will reunite with Unai Emery’s personal assistant Damia Vidagany, with whom he worked at Valencia.

Further, Villa’s financial power could deal the La Liga leaders another blow.

The hierarchy at Camp Nou have to reduce the club’s wage bill by at least €200m to comply with the league’s financial fair play rules before they can sign Messi or any other player. As such, there’s a possibility Xavi may be forced to let some of his current stars depart in the summer

Andreas Christensen could be a player on the move despite enduring a solid season at the back. He only moved to Spain last summer on a free transfer.

According to Fichajes (via the Birmingham Mail), the availability of the Danish centre-back would interest several Premier League sides. Villa’s name has been mentioned in the list of the English clubs open to offer the former Chelsea talent an opportunity to leave Barcelona return to the country.