When Aston Villa sold Jhon Duran to Al Nassr for 70 million euros, eyebrows were raised. The Villains made a fantastic profit with the sale of the young Colombian striker, but he was projected as their starter in the near future. But if we look at the last transfer window, we will see that the club from Birmingham is not doing this for the first time. Moussa Diaby was into his first season as Villain after transferring from Bayer Leverkusen and looked good, but when Al Ittihad called and gave 60 million, Villa said ‘yes‘ immediately. And they were wrong. So, they decided to make it right this January and bough not only one right sided forward, but two. And they added another one.Aston Villa’s winter signings Donyell Malen and Andres Garcia have been left out of the club’s squad for the Champions League knockout phase.Forward Malen and right-back Garcia, signed from Borussia Dortmund and Levante respectively, will not be able to be selected for… pic.twitter.com/xNHciVXW0E— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) February 7, 2025 “The Champions League is a big thing for me – it’s the biggest competition in the world. I’ve played in it for the last few years, so for me it was very important that Villa were in the competition. It is where you want to play” said Donyell Malen, a right-sided forward who signed for Villa first. The reason he signed was not the Champions League as he played it every year with Borussia Dortmund, but the fact that he could transfer to the club which will compete for a place in that competition certainly played a big factor in his transfer. But the problem was that he was not the only player in this position. By the time the January transfer window was finished, the Villains bought Asensio and Marcus Rashford on loans and now Malen will not play Champions League this season.Done deal – there is a new Villan in townAston Villa qualified for the knockout stage of the UEFA‘s most prestigious competition and since they finished eight, will not play the playoff games. But when the time came to register players for the next phase, Unai Emery and his associates left out Malen. Both Asensio and Rashford came before him, even thou they are here on a loan, while Axel Disasi was a necessary pick because of the lack of defensive options available to the coach. The issue at play is that UEFA have a bizarre rule which means you can’t name all the players you have signed, despite selling more than you’ve brought in. So, Malen became the odd man out, and if Villa doesn‘t qualify for the Champions League through the Premier League come May, the might miss the competition altogether. “It was not easy, the conversation with him Malen. It is not fair but the rules pushed us to take the decision and I explained to him why we took it. Of course, he accepted but it is not easy for him to be with us now and not playing in the Champions League. But we have other objectives, the FA Cup and also the Premier League as a priority. Today he was training well and of course he is going to play hopefully for a long time here and hopefully in the Champions League for the next years” said Emery after his decision. ##NAJAVA_MECA_8692263##
