Unai Emery makes stance clear on Jaden Philogene as Aston Villa transfer plan revealed
Unai Emery has confirmed Jaden Philogene could leave Aston Villa on loan this month.
The winger returned to Villa Park back in July, less than 12 months after leaving for Hull City for £5m. Villa agreed various clauses with Hull in that deal, including a 'matching rights' option, allowing Villa a three-day window to match a fee which Hull had agreed for the player from another club, plus a 30 per cent sell-on clause.
Ipswich Town had an £18m bid for Philogene accepted and Villa chose to match the bid, leaving the decision up to him. Instead of joining newly-promoted Ipswich, he opted to return to Villa, who essentially paid around £13m for him due to the 30 per cent sell-on clause.
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But after only starting two league games this season, Philogene could now head back out on loan from Villa with Ipswich and a number of other clubs expressing an interest in him.
"He has a potential and he didn’t show his potential in the first six months being with us, but for different circumstances," Emery said of Philogene. "He played some important matches against Bayern Munich and Manchester United. At that moment he was more or less with the opportunity to show his progress. He didn’t do it clearly and for circumstances he was playing less, but I believe in his potential.
"It is one option for him and the club [a loan] because there are lots of clubs interested in him. They believe in his potential. We are not close [to agreeing a loan] and as a coach I am not really wanting to let him leave, but we are speaking about the different options. Maybe it could be an option [loan].
"Tomorrow he is injured and is not available. My conversation was always to be patient, take time to improve things. The adaptation is going slower than we wanted, but still in my mind the objective is to improve and help us here. Now it is January, it could be an option for him and the squad to let him leave."
