Leander Dendoncker spent last season on loan at Anderlecht, where it’s fair to say he didn’t have the desired impact.
Lots was expected of the 30-year-old Aston Villa player, perhaps far too much, but the first few months of the loan weren’t far from being a disaster.
Things got a littler better for the versatile midfielder and there were even mentions in Belgium that Anderlecht could consider keeping him around, but there was absolutely no way the club were going to use the €7m purchase clause they’d agreed as part of his loan move.
Indeed, for a while it’s been clear Aston Villa would be lucky to get anything at all for Dendoncker.
Having spent a while looking for a move elsewhere in Belgium, he’s having to expand his horizons. It’s been reported for a while that a contract termination with the Birmingham club is the likely route forward, and that’s seen Oviedo take notice.
Sunday’s edition of La Nueva España reports Oviedo are in negotiations to sign the Aston Villa outcast and it’s made clear that for them to do so he must opt out of the final year of his contract with the Premier League club.
That would mean no fee for Aston Villa, and either Dendoncker having to give up that final year of contract – on wages he wouldn’t get close to with Oviedo – or negotiating a pay off.