Why Aston Villa can sell Lovre Kalinic now before the European deadline

According to a report in Birmingham Live, Italian side Sampdoria are looking to sign Aston Villa’s third-choice goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic before the European transfer window deadline.

The Croatia international, who arrived at Villa Park back in January window of 2019 itself for a fee around £7m (h/t Telegraph), is down in the pecking order after the Villans signed Tom Heaton in the summer window.

Now, the former Burnley keeper is the first-choice in goal, while Jed Steer is his backup, leaving Kalinic as an option when there is an injury. So, from the player’s point of view, it would make sense for him to leave the club and go where he can play games more regularly.

Furthermore, the 29-year-old didn’t really settle to life in the UK and has some questionable performances upon his arrival. (h/t Birmingham Live)

Below, we go in-depth into the situation of goalkeepers at Aston Villa and why selling Kalinic is a complimentary move for the Birmingham-based club:

Kalinic’s tough start and pecking order adds up to departure

Lovre Kalinic is a quality goalkeeper who has risen through the ranks well and deserved to play for the Croatian national team. So, a move to England to one of the biggest clubs in the country was justifiable to a larger extent.

However, the seven Championship games he played since January, the 29-year-old struggled to really adapt to the new style of game and was caught in confused state of mind most of the time.

As a result, Dean Smith’s men were kind of forced to buy a new goalkeeper upon their promotion to the Premier League. They eventually went on to buy one of the experienced stoppers in the game in Tom Heaton.

After that, it was clear that the former Burnley man will be the team’s number one, while Jed Steer would drop down to the number two role.

Conclusion

Thus, we can conclude by saying that Aston Villa and Lovre Kalinic are right to part ways only after seven months.

It would suit the club as they can get some money by selling their third-choice goalkeeper, while the player can leave to move to a club where he can play games regularly.

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