Stefan Borson: Aston Villa want 'way out' of 'forced' transfer, Unai Emery is looking 'very closely'

Aston Villa will already want to worm their way out of the conditional obligation to buy clause in Alejandro Garnacho's contract.

That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that Villa will have no intention of spending £43million on the winger.

Garnacho scored in a mid-season friendly for the Villans during the international break, but that has been the only positive sign from his so far.

Besides that, the 22-year-old is yet to start a game for Unai Emery, being stuck on the bench for each of Villa's last four matches across all competitions.

According to The Athletic, the threshold to trigger Garnacho's permanent deal is less than 10 Premier League appearances, sparking fears of a Harvey Elliott repeat at Villa Park.

The early signs would appear to suggest that fans have every right to have those concerns, though Mick Brown has told Football Insider that Emery has key plans for the Argentine.

Aston Villa want 'real way out' of Alejandro Garnacho deal

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson has revealed that he struggles with the idea of Villa paying his full fee, expecting to see a repeat of Elliott's situation instead.

"It's hard to see that it's going to be less, but likewise, it's hard to see why they would have agreed to a proper conditional loan," he said.

"This would be where they didn't have the obligation or where they had an effective obligation, I should say. I just can't see that. This is a player that they know they're going to have to be looking very closely at.

"They know that he's a player that's not really worked elsewhere. And it seems to me they would have been pretty careful about giving themselves a chance to have a very, very good look at him in action.

"It's not worked so far, but it's very early days. But I would think they would want a real way out of that deal, i.e. not having to be bound by it.

"So, I don't know, we'll see. I'd be very, very surprised if they are effectively forced to buy the player."

Where will Garnacho end up next summer?

It's impossible to know whether Garnacho will end up turning things around at Villa Park, but the early signs are not particularly good.

He has spent more time watching from the bench than being on the pitch, which is exactly how it started for Elliott during his loan from Liverpool.

Mick Brown has told Football Insider that a move to La Liga is highly likely should he fail to secure a permanent move to Villa Park by next summer.

If his contract really does only need a handful of appearances to trigger a deal, it could be a very, very long season for the 22-year-old.