Unai Emery’s sudden departure from Villarreal to Aston Villa has shaken things up on the East coast of Spain. The Basque manager takes charge of a talented squad but also increased spending power and some are suggesting that he may want to use it on players from his former club.
Surveying the Villarreal squad, one of the standout assets would be Yeremy Pino. The young attacker has already been capped for Spain and is one of the most promising talents in the Spanish game.
It is no surprise then that he has been mentioned in conjunction with Villa. Speaking to Caught Offside in his column however, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano calmed the fears of Villarreal fans.
“With a new manager coming in, we’re already seeing speculation about Aston Villa’s transfer targets for January, with some talk of Unai Emery raiding his old club Villarreal for Yeremi Pino.”
“Honestly, it’s really too early to know the targets; the agreement for Emery was done just 48 hours ago and as always, there are rumours on players who have been working with that manager. It’s typical but we will know more in January!”
At just 20 years of age, Pino would likely command a fee in excess of €50m. The Yellow Submarine may well be open to a sale. They had expected to make a significant sale this summer, likely Pau Torres or Arnaut Danjuma, yet with no such offers forthcoming, they were willing to listen to proposals for Pino in order to square their finances.
