'I thought, we all thought, that he could end up at Villa Park' Aston Villa transfer insider reveals failed summer drama

Aston Villa’s slow start to the season has seen them record just two wins from their opening seven Premier League games, and has inevitably shone the spotlight on the club's summer transfer dealings.

Unai Emery's side made eight permanent signings this summer, including £26 million striker Evann Guessand from Nice, while also adding loan pair Harvey Elliott and Jadon Sancho.

Villa also used the loan market back in the January transfer window, when they landed Marcus Rashford, Axel Disasi and Marco Asensio for the second half of the 2024/25 campaign, but were unable to bring any of that trio back to the West Midlands in the summer.

Monchi on Aston Villa's failed Marco Asensio move

Monchi left his role as Villa’s president of football operations last month following the summer transfer window and has now discussed his surprise that the club could not bring Asensio back on either a permanent deal or another loan move.

The 29-year-old turned out 21 times in all competitions for Villa last season, scoring eight times, including a brace in the comeback win over Chelsea as he showed signs that he was revitalising his career under Emery.

Villa worked on a deal for the former Real Madrid man in the summer, only to see him make a £7.5m switch to Turkish side Fenerbahce, where he has signed a three-year deal.

Monchi, who continues to work as an advisor for the club’s holding company, V Sports, has now admitted that he was surprised at the move.

“Yes, yes, because I thought he was going to end up at Villa Park, which was the objective, but well, in the end, mainly for financial reasons, because PSG were being tougher on us,” Monchi told Spanish outlet ElDesmarque.

"Marco was also worried, he was nervous, because he saw the transfer market going on and [the deal was] not closing, so he opted for Fenerbahce and well, let's hope for his luck.

”It's true that I thought, we all thought, that he could end up at Villa Park, because he'd also had a very good six months previously."

Given Villa’s indifferent start to the season, which has seen them score just six times in seven games, the failure to secure a move for Asensio - who is valued at €17m by Transfermarkt - could end up to be a costly one if Villa remain rooted in the bottom half of the Premier League table.