It goes to show that until transfer news becomes official, much has to be taken with a grain of salt. In regards to the Aston Villa acquisition of Sverre Nypan, Fabrizio Romano had expressed a high degree of confidence that the young Norwegian would be on his way to Villa soon enough.
Since then, however, The Athletic's Jacob Tanswell has shared on X that the player's camp is holding up a deal from becoming finalized. It is now approaching two months since the initial green light indicated that something was going to be agreed to.
At the time, the involved sides did not feel the need or urgency to get anything done right away. The elapsed time has now afforded Nypan and his family, according to the report, to have second thoughts. It is known that other Premier League teams are interested in adding the midfielder, and Villa appear to be on the outside looking in, if not entirely out of consideration for the player.
It is not the end of the world if Nypan ends up staying in Norway for another season or if he goes to a different EPL side. Villa have plenty of talent in the attacking areas. The opportunity would simply be lost to bring in a young player who has shown a lot of potential for a relatively inexpensive fee.
Lesson for Aston Villa
Especially when projecting forward as to what Nypan can become, this is the type of move a club makes that has a lot of upside without too much of a negative aspect to it.
What this should illustrate is the need for Villa to show a stronger backbone in such arrangements when a deal is close. Their understanding was taken advantage of. Instead, moving forward, when similar situations arise, AVFC need to press the issue and push for signatures. If the party expresses an unwillingness for whatever reason, then no worries, everyone can move on. This will, however, allow Villa to move forward and go after their next potential target.