{"id":21289,"date":"2026-01-17T00:27:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2026\/01\/17\/agent-rebuttal-crushes-swap-rumours-for-aston-villa-whats-next-for-the-lions\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T00:27:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:27:00","slug":"agent-rebuttal-crushes-swap-rumours-for-aston-villa-whats-next-for-the-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2026\/01\/17\/agent-rebuttal-crushes-swap-rumours-for-aston-villa-whats-next-for-the-lions\/","title":{"rendered":"Agent Rebuttal Crushes Swap Rumours For Aston Villa: What\u2019s Next For The Lions?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Rumours about Evann Guessand\u2019s future at Aston Villa hit a dead end this morning. His agent put out a firm statement<\/a> clarifying exactly where the player stands. Reports from Turkey earlier this week<\/a> claimed Besiktas had made the 24-year-old forward a top target.<\/p>\n

Evann Guessand Stays at Villa Park\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Istanbul club apparently saw the Ivorian international as a way to make a complicated deal work to send Tammy Abraham back to the Premier League. Aston Villa still really want their former loan star, Tammy Abraham. They reportedly hoped to use Guessand to bring down the total cost. However, the player\u2019s team acted fast to shut down the talk.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Turkish journalist Ersin Albayrak, Guessand\u2019s agent didn\u2019t mince words. He made the situation very clear. \u201cGuessand will definitely stay at Aston Villa. We have no intention of going anywhere, 10000%,\u201d<\/em> relayed the Turkish journalist.<\/p>\n

This straight-to-the-point response basically kills the swap deal involving Abraham. The striker is currently on loan at Besiktas from AS Roma. The Turkish side have a deal to buy the Englishman for \u20ac13m, but they seem to want to move him on quickly for a profit of around \u20ac20m. Villa\u2019s recruitment team now have to rethink things if they still want to secure Abraham before the deadline.<\/p>\n

Villa\u2019s Striker Headache: What This Means for Unai Emery?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Agent
BASEL, SWITZERLAND \u2013 DECEMBER 11: Evann Guessand of Aston Villa celebrates scoring his team\u2019s first goal during the UEFA Europa League 2025\/26 League Phase MD6 match between FC Basel 1893 and Aston Villa FC at St. Jakob-Park on December 11, 2025 in Basel, Switzerland. (Photo by Daniela Porcelli\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This firm refusal to leave gives Unai Emery plenty to think about as the season reaches the business end. Aston Villa paid a big \u00a330m fee to get Guessand from OGC Nice only five months ago. Still, the forward has found it hard to take Ollie Watkins\u2019 spot in the team.<\/p>\n

By keeping Guessand, the club keep their options open, but they might be missing a chance to get some cash back or bring in someone new. Emery now has to figure out how to get more out of the forward instead of offloading him so early into his stay. Sticking with the 24-year-old Ivorian winger means Villa are betting on him to improve and back up Watkins.<\/p>\n

The squad are thin on senior strikers, so Guessand needs to step up if injury hits. On top of that, this makes getting Tammy Abraham a lot harder. Without a player to trade, Villa\u2019s bosses would have to pay full price in cash to meet what Besiktas want.<\/p>\n

This situation really tests how much the club are willing to spend on the front line while watching the budget. Emery basically has two paths: get Guessand firing right now, or find the money to bring Abraham back regardless of who is already in the squad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rumours about Evann Guessand\u2019s future at Aston Villa hit a dead end this morning. His agent put out a firm statement clarifying exactly where the player stands. Reports from Turkey earlier this week claimed Besiktas had made the 24-year-old forward a top target. Evann Guessand Stays at Villa Park\u00a0 The Istanbul club apparently saw the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13963,"featured_media":21290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13963"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}