Alejandro Balde
Alejandro Balde
Aston Villa face a battle to get Alejandro Balde from Barcelona this summer, with the left-back not considering an exit yet.
AS report on the defender today, who is a Jorge Mendes client. The Portuguese super-agent is preparing for a busy summer at Camp Nou.
The newspaper explains that last year it was sorting Lamine Yamal’s contract situation, this year other cases will take precedence. Balde is one of the players whose future needs to be sorted.
Transfer interest every summer
Alejandro Balde is the third name on Jorge Mendes list. He appears on the transfer list almost every summer and this will not be different.
A report at the end of March stated that Aston Villa, Manchester City and Manchester United had already initiated contact for the 22-year-old.
AS report that Barcelona would benefit from a sale as he’s one of their options to raise funds for their own business this summer. Transfermarkt value him at €55m at present, representing a huge profit for Barcelona on a homegrown player.
The newspaper again states that Aston Villa’s interest has ‘emerged’ in recent days, alongside the two Manchester clubs.
Barcelona not pushing sale
However, Alejandro Balde’s sale would bring money into Barcelona, neither sporting director Deco nor manager Hansi Flick are pushing a sale. They are both counting on him moving forwards.
The player also isn’t open to leaving at this point. That would change if there was a change in the plans regarding his role within the team.
In other words, if his role changes, he’ll consider his future. This season he’s been in the first team 62% of the time in La Liga and featured in 58% of the available minutes. He has similar numbers in the Champions League.
Those numbers don’t suggest he’s a firm fixture in the plans, but it seems everyone is happy with the situation for now. Whether that changes, remains to be seen.
But his current deal expires in 2028, so Barcelona need to make a decision this summer. They will not want a valuable asset entering the final year of his deal next summer.
Despite the claims of Barcelona being against a sale, this story continues being pushed in Spain. From transfer precedent with the Catalan club, that would mean they’re open to offers but don’t want it to appear as their idea.
Aston Villa will be well aware of the situation.
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— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) April 2, 2026