Monchi spotted at Spanish club on Friday evening – Aston Villa transfer work ongoing

Aston Villa beat West Ham United 2-1 on Friday evening to progress in the FA Cup, but Monchi wasn’t at Villa Park for the match.

That’s because he was instead in Spain and attending the game between Rayo Vallecano and Celta Vigo.

Rayo won the match 2-1, and Monchi’s attendance has obviously set tongues wagging in the Spanish media. His trip is covered by multiple newspaper on Saturday, and Marca report he was watching Celta’s Óscar Mingueza and Rayo’s Ratiu.

Mingueza has been strongly linked with a move to Aston Villa over the past week, with claims the Premier League club could be set to pay Celta his €20m release clause.

Formerly of Barcelona, who would get 50% of that €20m, Mingueza is a hugely versatile player, whereas Andrei Ratiu is more of a specialist right-back.

The Spanish media believe it was Ratiu who performed better on Friday evening, so may have impressed Monchi more.

Regarding Monchi’s presence, Celta coach Claudio Giráldez is quoted by Atlántico as saying: “I understand that he will be here for his reasons.”

And those reasons will almost certainly be transfer related.