The 30-year-old joined us from Wolves in 2022, but he has since gone on to make just 36 appearances for the club, having had loan spells at Napoli and Anderlecht over the past two seasons.
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Evidently, he is not part of Unai Emery’s plans moving forward, but due to a lack of interest up until this point, Villa have struggled to offload him with another year left to run on his current contract.
Fortunately though, it appears as though a solution may well have been found, as [The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6557221/2025/08/16/leander-dendoncker-aston-villa-real-oviedo/) report that Dendoncker is close to joining Real Oviedo, and although it will be a free transfer, the expectation is that Villa will benefit from cutting his salary off the wage bill as we continue to make moves to ensure we comply with UEFA’s financial regulations as part of our settlement agreement with them.
There is still work to be done to complete the deal as it’s added no medical is scheduled as of yet and terms need to be finalised still, but this is certainly progress given it’s been desperately quiet in relation to Dendoncker’s future for the past few months.
Having already moved Philippe Coutinho on permanently this summer, Villa have been proactive in trying to rectify our financial issues both in terms of PSR and SCR rules, and shifting Dendoncker off the books would be another important step to help give us further financial flexibility.
It remains to be seen if there is a pay-off involved to terminate his contract early or if he’s simply set to join Oviedo on a free transfer and we cut ties, but it’s a positive move and the most sensible one for all concerned given there is no future path together.
It has been reported that if Villa were able to move the likes of Dendoncker and Alex Moreno on ahead of the transfer deadline, we may be in a position to explore the loan market in the latter stages of the window to try and strengthen Emery’s squad for the rest of the season.
If the pieces fall into place for that to happen, it will be fascinating to see who might potentially join up with the group and give us a boost by adding competition and depth as we look to compete across multiple fronts, as there is arguably a sense that we’re still a little bit short in certain areas and could do with some reinforcements to give us a boost.
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