Disastrous Aston Villa signing finally over as Unai Emery ships flop off to Spain, with next club confirmed
Unai Emery has completed an Aston Villa exit as left-back Ludwig Augustinsson has been sent back to La Liga just six months after originally moving to Villa Park.
Augustinsson joined Villa on loan from Sevilla in July 2022. He became Steven Gerrard’s sixth summer signing after Villa reached an agreement with Sevilla for him.
The West Midlands outfit had the option to buy Augustinsson for £3.8million. However, his time at the club has been cut short after a disappointing spell in England.
The defender made just five appearances for Villa, and only three of those came in the Premier League. He could not get into the Villa starting eleven ahead of Lucas Digne.
Emery became Gerrard’s successor in November. And early in the January transfer window he moved to replace Augustinsson by landing Alex Moreno from Real Betis.
The Spaniard’s role is to compete with Digne for a starting spot on the left side of defence. This left no room for Augustinsson in Emery’s squad and he soon became linked with a Villa exit.
There were rumours he could return to parent club Sevilla. However, they told Emery they did not want him back in their setup. As such, Villa had to wait for the Spanish team to find another suitor for Augustinsson before he could depart England.
It took a couple of weeks, but an agreement was eventually reached for the 28-year-old’s move. On Saturday, Fabrizio Romano revealed he would head back to Spain by joining Mallorca on loan from Sevilla.
Aston Villa announce flop has left the club
And that transfer has now been confirmed. In a statement, Villa wrote: ‘Aston Villa can confirm Ludwig Augustinsson has been recalled from his loan spell by Sevilla.
‘The left-back joined Villa in the summer, going on to make five appearances in claret and blue.
‘The club would like to thank Ludwig for his service and wish him all the best in his future career.’
Mallorca have confirmed he will wear the number three shirt while at Son Moix Stadium. He could make his debut when they come up against Real Madrid in La Liga on Sunday.
