Aston Villa told they are making mistake with £300,000 defender sale
Villa have been warned they are making a mistake by selling defender Finley Munroe.
The 20-year-old full-back has been recalled from his season-long loan at Swindon ahead of making an anticipated £300,000 move to Middlesbrough.
Munroe, who joined Villa after leaving Chelsea’s academy in 2021, is out of contract this summer and is not being offered a new deal by the Premier League club, who are prepared to cash-in on his value this month.
But they have been warned that is the wrong move by Swindon boss Ian Holloway, who rates Munroe among the best full-backs he has worked with in a three-decade managerial career.
The former QPR, Blackpool and Crystal Palace compared Munroe, who has made 27 appearances for the League Two Robins this season, to Everton legend Seamus Coleman.
He said: “I think Aston Villa are wrong because they're not taking him.
“That's why this has all happened. They're not giving him a new deal.
“I would strongly shout to everybody that I don't think I've had as good a full-back potentially in my lifetime, wherever I've been.
“Maybe Seamus Coleman, borrowing him on loan? Maybe he was potentially and I think Finn's in the same bracket, in my opinion. So there you go.”
Both Middlesbrough and Bristol City submitted bids for Munroe, who made two first-team appearances for Villa in the final weeks of the 2023-24 season, while there was also interest from Derby and Watford.
But it is Boro, who sit second in the Championship, who have won the race after agreeing a deal with Villa which is thought to include a large sell-on fee.
Munroe, the cousin of England star Declan Rice, is due to travel to Teesside for a medical ahead of completing the move and could make his Championship debut at Albion on Friday.
“He's a wonderful kid and I'd love to keep him,” added Holloway. “He'd like to stay, but he's out of contract in the summer, and we won't be able to afford his wages that someone else might pay him in a higher division.
“If he's not here, he goes with my blessing. What a wonderful, wonderful player and person he is who has added to our group.”
Munroe’s move will make it the third consecutive January window a player has moved from Villa to Boro, after midfielder Finn Azaz and winger Samuel Iling-Junior moved north in 2024 and 2025 respectively, the latter on loan.
