After three years at the club, Swedish stalwart Robin Olsen departed this week after his contract expired, and so that leaves a glaring void in our pecking order in terms of having a reliable second-choice shot-stopper.
_**READ MORE: [Villa paired with interest in defensive reinforcement but face hefty price-tag](https://talk-villa.com/aston-villa-transfer-news-jaydee-canvot-interest-e20m-price-tag/)**_
Back from his loan stint at Barnsley, Joe Gauci will hope to step up into that role, while youngsters such as Oliwier Zych and Filip Marschall will be pushing for a promotion up the list too.
That said, the expectation is that Villa will move in the transfer market to address the issue, and according to [The Times](https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/liverpool-reject-bayern-munich-approach-for-luis-diaz-transfer-window-0z2v6twb5), it could be Petrovic who emerges as the solution.
The 25-year-old joined Chelsea from New England Revolution in 2023, and while he’s made 31 appearances for our Premier League rivals, he established himself as first-choice at Strasbourg during his impressive season-long loan deal last season.
However, with significant competition for that place, it looks as though he could be on the move this summer and it’s said that Villa, Sunderland and Bournemouth are all interested in signing him.
It’s unclear from our perspective if that is with the view of making him our No.2 next season, or the possibility of being our first-choice shot-stopper amid speculation over Emiliano Martinez’s future.
Hopefully, it’s the former, as we ideally need to continue to build around key figures like Martinez and improve the squad, rather than having to spend the transfer window replacing those crucial individuals and rebuilding.
That said, Villa still have work to do this summer to bring our wage bill down in order to comply with UEFA’s SCR rules, and so with Martinez being one of the top earners at the club, his departure would help to address that while raising significant transfer funds to reinvest back into the squad.
Time will tell if the club see Petrovic as the best placed option to fill that possible void or if alternative options emerge, and furthermore, whether or not he would be interested in joining us, but it could be a critically important part of our transfer plans in the coming weeks, as we look to strengthen Unai Emery’s squad and continue to improve and evolve it into a group of players capable of taking the next step and leading us to silverware and further progress in the Premier League.
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