Villarreal aiming for club-record sale with Atletico Madrid target Alex Baena | OneFootball

Alex Baena has been the standout performer for Villarreal over the last 18 months, as well as one of La Liga’s best players in the same period. However, the double-edged sword in this scenario is that his level of performances has meant that a number of clubs have taken an interest in signing him.

Baena won’t leave during the ongoing winter transfer window, but there is a strong chance that he does move on at the end of the season. Villarreal would begrudgingly allow this to happen, although a deal would not be cheap for any of the interested parties.

As reported by Diario AS, Villarreal are prepared to let Baena leave for less than his €60m release clause, but it would still take an offer of €50m for the Yellow Submarine to allow a deal to happen. This can be seen as surprising, given that a number of big-money sales have taken place at La Ceramica in recent years.

In this case, it would be a club-record sale, as the largest amount previously received by Villarreal was €40m (on two occasions, Eric Bailly to Manchester United in 2016 and Cedric Bakambu to Beijing Gouan in 2018).

Alex Baena will be a player to watch during the summer (Photo by Cordon Press)

Baena has been linked with several Premier League clubs in recent months, while Atletico Madrid have him as their leading transfer target for the summer. They will be able to cast their eye over him on Saturday as Villarreal visit the Metropolitano in a mouth-watering clash.

It would be a huge blow for Villarreal to lose Baena, but given that they are a club that is prepared to let its best players leave when the time is right, it makes sense that a deal would happen. The big task would then be to find a suitable replacement, which will be much easier said than done.