Aston Villa open talks for former Barcelona right-back | OneFootball

Few players have impressed as much over the last two years in La Liga as Oscar Mingueza, and he has attracting plenty of admiring eyes in the last six months. It appears Aston Villa have decided to act on those performances first.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Villa have opened talks for Mingueza with Celta, although those conversations are in the early stages. Mingueza is described as one of their main targets though, and someone who is liked by both the Villa board and manager Unai Emery, who keeps a close eye on potential recruits from La Liga.

Mingueza became a creative force for Celta Vigo under Rafael Benitez, but has improved even more under Claudio Giraldez since he replaced the former Liverpool manager. This September he earned his first Spain call-up, and has been in their subsequent two squads too. RB Leipzig were strongly linked with Mingueza in recent weeks too, while Barcelona have a 50% sell-on fee. Villa can force the issue by activating his €20m release clause, while Celta President Marian Mourino has declared they want to retain Mingueza until at least the summer.