Long-standing Aston Villa target Milot Rashica could finally leave Werder Bremen in January, with the Bundesliga outfit under pressure to raise funds during a tense financial situation, president Hubertus Hess-Grunwald has told BILD.
You would have got long odds on the Kosovan speed-machine still being a Werder player when the European transfer window slammed shut on October 5.
After saving the 2004 Bundesliga champions from relegation last term, Rashica spent much of the summer in the gossip columns with Liverpool, Wolves, AC Milan and RB Leipzig among the apparently interested parties.
Aston Villa, however, came closer than most.
The Birmingham Mail reported that Villa triggered the £20.5 million release clause in Rashica’s contract. They were less impressed, however, by his demands of a £75,000-a-week contract.
Werder director Frank Baumann, meanwhile, confirmed Villa’s interest in conversation with BuliNews.
With Bremen still under pressure to raise funds even after selling Davy Klaassen back to Ajax, the former Vitesse Arnhem wing wizard will once again be on the market in January.
“We are in the process of tapping all sources of money, exhausting all possible savings. And of course we will see what potential transfer proceeds we can achieve,” president Hess-Grunwald explained.
Whether Aston Villa return with a vengeance for Rashica, however, remains to be seen.
Bertrand Traore’s arrival gives Dean Smith more depth on the wings while Trezeguet has enjoyed an impressive run of form since football returned from lockdown in June.
Rashica would still represent an upgrade on both the Egyptian and the seldom-seen Anwar El-Ghazi, however, while offering the kind of raw pace even Jack Grealish and Ross Barkley cannot provide on the left.
Rashica has endured an injury-interrupted start to 2020/21, though, playing just 117 minutes so far.
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