Aston Villa are reportedly admirers of Royal Antwerp goalkeeper Senne Lammens as we look to bolster our goalkeeper options this summer.
While Robin Olsen is set to officially depart on a free transfer on the expiration of his contract next week, that leaves us with Joe Gauci, Oliwier Zych and Filip Marschall as our depth options.
READ MORE: Discussions ongoing as Villa could negotiate permanent exit for top talent
Amid ongoing speculation over Emiliano Martinez’s future though, we might be forced into a significant reshuffle in that department this summer if he also departs, and a potential transfer target has been put forward as a possible solution.
According to The Mirror, Villa admire Lammens, but it’s noted that the 22-year-old shot-stopper has attracted interest from elsewhere too, and so it remains to be seen if Villa step up their touted interest to make a move for the Belgium U21s international.
Lammens made 44 appearances last season for Antwerp, conceding 56 goals while keeping 10 clean sheets. Provided that the report of our interest is accurate, he’s evidently done enough to catch our recruitment team’s attention and possibly assess him as a serious option this summer.
The report above also notes that Martinez is valued at around £45m, and so it remains to be seen if a suitable offer comes in for him and in turn, whether or not both Villa and the Argentine ace are open to parting company after five years together.
Ideally, he would stay at the club and our focus this summer would be on strengthening around our core players rather than looking for options to replace them, and so perhaps our interest in Lammens is with a view of him competing behind Martinez in the depth chart before eventually taking over the first-choice role if he is deemed ready.
Gauci, Zych and Marschall will all hope to be involved in that conversation too, but time will tell what the plan is for that trio ahead of next season in terms of whether or not they’ll still all be with us.
It’s undoubtedly been a quiet summer thus far for Villa with no notable incomings or outgoings as of yet, but with the PSR deadline upon us on June 30, perhaps we’ll get more answers next week over not only our financial position, but also through a step up in our pursuit of transfer targets to strengthen Unai Emery’s squad.
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