Aston Villa 'ready to listen to offers for Leander Dendoncker'

In September 2022, Villa - then with Steven Gerrard as their manager - opted to pay £13m to sign the versatile player from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

However, unlike his positive stint at Molineux, Dendoncker has struggled to impress at Wolves' West Midlands rivals, making just seven starts in the Premier League.

A total of 10 starts and 18 substitute outings have come in all competitions, but the Belgium international is regarded as no more than a fringe member by head coach Unai Emery.

As well as making just three brief substitute appearances in the Premier League this season, Dendoncker has been substituted at half time on each of his two starts in the EFL Cup and Europa Conference League respectively.

According to Football Insider, Emery and the Villa hierarchy are happy to part ways with the 28-year-old as soon as possible.

That is despite Villa potentially having a constantly busy schedule due to their involvement in Europe and Dendoncker having over two-and-a-half years left on his contract.

Villa had been open to allowing Dendoncker to go out on loan towards the end of the summer transfer window, only for a loan switch to a Turkish club not being finalised.

Dendoncker's lack of game time for Villa realistically means that they are not in a position to recoup anywhere close to the £13m that they shelled out 14 months ago.

Nevertheless, getting the player's lucrative wages off their outgoings would be viewed as beneficial with Villa still keen to boost their position with FFP.

If Villa were able to sell or loan out Dendoncker, they would not necessarily require a replacement with academy graduate Tim Iroegbunam having returned from injury to be selected in the squad for last weekend's Premier League fixture with Luton Town.

Emery already has Boubacar Kamara, Douglas Luiz, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans and Jacob Ramsey ahead of Dendoncker and Iroegbunam in the pecking order.