A-League club Melbourne City are in the hunt to sign Aston Villa defender Ritchie De Laet, according to Australian journalist Joey Lynch.
The Daily Football Show journalist claimed via his personal Twitter account on Thursday that he has been told by multiple sources that Melbourne are interested in the 29-year-old, just under a year after the Victoria club signed Ross McCormack on loan.
Also heard from multiple people now that Melbourne City are looking at former Premier League winner and current Aston Villa defender Ritchie De Laet.#ALeague
— Joey Lynch (@joeylynchy) September 13, 2018
Melbourne City are one of the clubs that form the City Football Group, including Manchester City and New York City, which is owned by billionaire Sheikh Mansour.
Good move for Aston Villa?
De Laet has not made any of Steve Bruce’s squads in the Championship this season but has played in 90 minutes of both Carabao Cup games – including the shock defeat to Yeovil.
Although he was involved in the cup upset, the former Manchester United and Leicester right-back can still play a role at Villa Park, but for whatever reason, Bruce doesn’t have him in his first team plans and that is likely to remain throughout the rest of the season.
For the good of De Laet’s career, moving on loan to Melbourne City would be a good idea, but Villa should really be looking to keep around someone of his quality and experience, especially when their defence is yet to keep a clean sheet this term.
This is Futbol rating 4/10
Likely to happen?
Melbourne City have already done business with Aston Villa in the last 12 months so there is definitely a good chance that it will happen again.
The 29-year-old has had a lot of clubs in his career and would more than likely jump at the chance to play regular first team football and try something new by playing in the A-League for the first time.
This is Futbol rating 9/10