Villa in talks with Club Brugge for defender Ordonez

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.