Aston Villa forward Donyell Malen is open to leaving the club on loan as AS Roma continue their push to sign him
21:36, 13 Jan 2026Updated 21:36, 13 Jan 2026
AS Roma are pushing to sign Donyell Malen on loan from Aston Villa, though a deal has not yet been finalised.
Malen is believed to have given Roma encouragement to continue efforts to reach an agreement with Villa.
There is also interest from other clubs, including Atletico Madrid, but Roma’s pursuit is the most advanced at this stage.
The Dutch forward joined Villa from Borussia Dortmund for £20 million 12 months ago but has found regular starts hard to come by.
Malen has started only seven Premier League matches for Villa, yet has scored 10 goals across all competitions.
This season, only Morgan Rogers has scored more goals than Malen’s seven in all competitions, while Ollie Watkins has matched that total.
Villa will look for an attacking reinforcement if Malen departs, which appears likely at this stage. Tammy Abraham is known to be one of their targets.
Abraham helped Villa secure promotion in the 2018–19 campaign and was a target of Unai Emery ahead of the summer 2023 window, before suffering an ACL injury.
Should Villa offload Malen? Tell us here
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