Aston Villa misfit Anwar El Ghazi is on his way out of the Premier League with PSV Eindhoven agreeing to take the winger back to the Eredivisie on a three-year deal, as reported by De Telegraaf.
Not for the first time this season, El Ghazi was nowhere to be seen on Sunday afternoon; Villa’s players trudging off to a chorus of boos after an insipid 1-0 defeat to fellow strugglers West Ham United.
The former Ajax winger was one of Aston Villa’s key performers during Dean Smith’s final few months at the helm. But he’s barely kicked a ball under Steven Gerrard; loaned out to Everton in January before being placed rather unceremoniously on the transfer list, alongside fellow bomb squad members Frederic Guilbert, Morgan Sanson and the now-departed Bertrand Traore.
El Ghazi has been linked with a return to Ajax. But, according to reports in the Netherlands, the twice-capped Dutch international is on his way to PSV Eindhoven instead; something of a reverse-Bergwijn from a player joining his old club’s title rivals.
Aston Villa agree to let PSV Eindhoven sign Anwar El Ghazi
El Ghazi, De Telegraaf add, will set PSV back around £2.5 million. The 27-year-old should sign a contract that may keep him at the Philipps Stadium until the summer of 2025.
According to Voetbal International, PSV initially ran into problems attempting to agree a deal with the player himself. El Ghazi’s £30,000-a-week wages were expected to be a major stumbling block (Spotrac).
Those obstacles, however, should be overcome. One suspects El Ghazi will have to take a pay cut in order to join Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side. But money, as they say, isn’t everything. After nine months gathering dust on the sidelines at Villa Park and Goodison, El Ghazi just needs to play regular first-team football once again. PSV can offer him that.
It remains to be seen if he will end up replacing the much-coveted Cody Gakpo. Or, instead, whether he will play alongside him at PSV. Gakpo remains a target for the likes of Southampton, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United.
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