Aston Villa are reportedly close to finalising a deal for Mateu Alemany, who has opted to leave his role as director of football at Barcelona.
The 60-year-old has been a key figure behind the scenes at Camp Nou since 2021, a period which has proven to be one of the most turbulent in the club's history.
With the Catalan giants on the brink of reclaiming La Liga, the expectation was that Alemany would continue in his position for the 2023-24 campaign.
However, on Tuesday evening, Barcelona announced that Alemnay was leaving the club for a "new professional project", making a point of stating that his contract still had 14 months left to run.
Barcelona revealed that Alemnay had informed president Joan Laporta that he wanted to take on "a new career" path, but had committed to remaining involved with Barcelona's transfer business during the summer window.
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As part of the agreement to leave, he will be available until the end of that period - September 1 - but it appears that Alemany will soon be linking up with Villa.
According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, a formal proposal has been presented to Alemany, one which he wants to accept.
Romano adds that only 'the finer details' are left to be completed as he looks to take on the challenge of making an impact in the West Midlands.
Villa have enjoyed a remarkable upturn in results since the arrival of Unai Emery in November, moving from relegation candidates to contenders for European qualification.
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Before Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Manchester United, Villa had put together a 10-match undefeated streak, a run of fixtures which included eight wins.
While Villa have since dropped to seventh position in the Premier League standings, they sit just two points adrift of fifth-placed Liverpool who they are still yet to play.
Despite having been allowed to spend almost £28m on Alex Moreno and Jhon Duran in January, Emery is expected to be provided with the funds to make further significant additions in the summer in a bid to establish Villa as a top-seven club.
Although Villa have spent in the region of £90m across the last two transfer windows, that financial outlay has been offset by raising in excess of £50m through player sales over the same period.
Darren Plant
