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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
ASTON Villa are yet to receive a formal offer for Marvelous Nakamba whose departure the club is trying to fast track before the mid-season transfer window deadline at the end of this month.
Villa boss Unai Emery confirmed to Birmingham Live after the win at Southampton on Saturday that Nakamba, who didn’t travel with the squad to St Mary’s, was left out in order to quicken up his own departure before deadline day, with no prospect of regular game time at Villa Park.
The January 2023 transfer window opened on January 1 and will close on January 31. Nakamba is contracted to Aston Villa until June 2024.
Some reports are linking Nakamba in a swap deal involving Marseile’s Matteo Guendouzi who is heavily linked with a move to the English club.
Guendouzi has worked with Emery at Arsenal before.
Nakamba along with Frenchman Morgan Sanson and Swedish Ludwig Augustinsson have been put on the transfer list by the club.
The Warriors international signed for Aston Villa from Belgian giants Club Brugge for €12m in August 2019.
The midfielder has made 58 EPL appearances since joining the club, 29 coming in his maiden season in the 2019/20 season.
He followed that up with 13 appearances the next season but has had to grapple with a series of injuries and loss of form.
Nakamba was a key figure in the early days of Steven Gerrard’s reign but a knee injury in December 2021 impacted heavily on his progress.
The Zimbabwean midfielder, who fell out of favour with previous managers Dean Smith, Gerrard and his interim successor Aaron Danks, has found it difficult to get game time under Emery.
Last season Nakamba had 16 appearances but has not played any match in the English Premiership in the 2021/22 period, apart from a few friendly games during the World Cup break. -@innocentskizoe
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter