Aston Villa are happy to listen to any proposals for one of their senior players next year, with a report revealing that he has been given the green light to leave by Unai Emery.
Aston Villa's summer departures
The Midlands outfit sanctioned the permanent sales of Cameron Archer, Jaden Philogene-Bidace, Marvelous Nakamba, Keinan Davis, Ashley Young and Wesley Moraes over the summer, whilst sending Philippe Coutinho, Morgan Sanson and Viljami Sinisalo out on loan for the remainder of the term.
The Villans will know that Nicolo Zaniolo and Clement Lenglet are both set to depart at the end of the season having only joined on a temporary basis - should the former’s obligation to buy not be triggered - but there is another existing member of the squad who could also be heading for the exit door.
Bertrand Traore will have reached the expiration of his deal upon the conclusion of the current campaign (Aston Villa contracts), and it’s fair to say that the right-winger has failed to make any kind of positive impact having fallen significantly out of favour.
The Burkina Faso international has made zero starts and two substitute appearances, playing just ten minutes of football, this season in the Premier League (WhoScored - Traore statistics), and if the following update is to be believed, the 28-year-old’s situation is only set to get worse.
Aston Villa open to offers for Bertrand Traore
According to Football Insider, Aston Villa are happy to sell Traore in the early stages of next year, with the attacker having been made aware that he doesn't feature in the manager's long-term project.
"Aston Villa are ready to accept an offer for Bertrand Traore in the January transfer window, sources have told Football Insider.
"The 28-year-old does not figure in Unai Emery’s plans and the Spaniard has given the green light for the forward to go in the mid-season window. Traore is out of contract at the end of the 2023-24 campaign and will not be offered an extension at Villa Park."
While Aston Villa will know that Traore hasn’t been given enough of a chance to prove what he’s capable of this season, he’s failed to show that he deserves to stay having ranked as the club’s 21st overall best-performing player out of 23 squad members who have featured since the start of the campaign (WhoScored - Aston Villa statistics).
Emery’s left-footed winger hasn’t even made the squad on four occasions in the top-flight this term, whilst being an unused substitute the same amount of times (Transfermarkt - Traore statistics), with his form when he is handed the opportunity to showcase his talents having seen him described as too “inconsistent” by journalist Josh Bunting.
Additionally, Traore currently earns £77k-per-week which is more than the likes of Douglas Luiz, Ezri Konsa and Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa salaries), so it’s vital that chiefs get him off the books as quickly as possible and put the extra cash that they will have at their disposal towards generating funds to bring in new signings in January.