Villa in talks with Club Brugge for defender Ordonez

August 24, 2026 No Comments

Villa in talks with Club Brugge for defender OrdonezImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Joel Ordonez played for Ecuador at the World Cup earlier this summerBySami Mokbel

Senior football correspondent

11 minutes ago

Aston Villa are working to sign Club Brugge central defender Joel Ordonez after failing to agree a deal with Southampton for Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

The Premier League side, who sold England defender Ezri Konsa to Arsenal last week, are accelerating their interest in Ordonez, with discussions ongoing and his Belgian Pro League club wanting a minimum £40m fee for the Ecuador international.

The 22-year-old centre-back, who played for his country at this summer’s World Cup, has made 124 appearances for Club Brugge since joining in 2022 from Independiente del Valle.

Villa had targeted Harwood-Bellis, but there is understood to be a significant gap in valuation between them and Southampton after an offer worth £18m was rejected.

It remains to be seen whether a transfer for the 24-year-old can still be revived but, as things stand, Unai Emery’s side have moved on to other targets.

Villa lost their opening game of the season 4-0 to Brighton on Sunday and are working to strengthen their squad before the transfer deadline on 1 September.

They have lost a host of key players this season with Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and Konsa all departing.

There are also questions over Ollie Watkins’ future with the striker a target for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.