Romano claims Aston Villa have made contact for Premier League contract rebel, deal now unlikely

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Aston Villa wanted Caglar Soyuncu and made a move for the Leicester City defender – but he is close to joining Atletico Madrid instead.

That’s according to transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano, who claims that Aston Villa made contact to try and sign Soyuncu.

Jose Mourinho’s Roma also made moves to try and sign Soyuncu with Leicester open to letting the Turkish defender leave.

However, both Villa and Roma are set to miss out with Atletico Madrid on the verge of securing a deal for Soyuncu.

Romano suggests that ‘negotiations are advanced’ with Atletico hoping to get the deal done as quickly as possible.

Diego Simeone’s men clearly don’t want to be hijacked here and are pushing for the deal to go through as soon as the January window opens.

Soyuncu is out of contract in the summer and it’s unlikely that Atletico will have to pay too much to sign the 26-year-old.

Aston Villa may be better off without Soyuncu

Villa making a move for Soyuncu feels pretty surprising.

Yes, summer signing Diego Carlos is still out with a major injury but Unai Emery still has options at the back.

Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Calum Chambers, Jan Bednarek and even Leander Dendoncker are all options there.

Emery seemingly saw something in Soyuncu though, which is surprising given his form in recent times.

Soyuncu was outstanding for his first couple of seasons at Leicester, making a huge impact after arriving from Freiburg in 2018.

After barely featuring in his first season, Soyuncu stepped up to replace Harry Maguire and looked like being Leicester’s next big money-maker.

Yet it has all gone wrong for Soyuncu, with his form completely deserting him both last season and this term.

Boss Brendan Rodgers suggested that a mixture of Euro 2020 disaster with Turkey and the pressure of being Leicester’s only fit centre back for a period last season just became too much for Soyuncu.

Add in his contract situation and Leicester have been reluctant to play him this season. In fact, Soyuncu has played just one Premier League game this term.

A fresh start is needed for all and rather than head to another Premier League team in Villa, it looks like Soyuncu will try something new with Atletico.