Aston Villa reach agreement for 'significant coup' after bombshell exit

Tom Weber

• Updated: 23 Sept 2025 16:26 BST
• 4 min read

News

Aston Villa have reached an agreement to appoint Roberto Olabe as the successor to departing president of football Monchi, according to David Ornstein.

On Monday evening, while the eyes of the world were fixed on the Ballon d'Or, news came out of Villa Park that high-ranking figure Monchi was set to depart the Birmingham club after just two years.

The Spaniard was appointed as Aston Villa's president of football operations in June 2023 after two stints at Sevilla and a couple of years at AS Roma.

Monchi arrived at Villa Park with the reputation of a transfer guru, and he certainly managed to work his magic occasionally. The signings of Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers have been undoubted successes.

However, he also added several duds, and his job was made all the more difficult by financial regulations, which increasingly restricted Aston Villa's room to manoeuvre, culminating in a relatively low-key and somewhat panicky 2025 summer window.

Aston Villa to appoint Olabe

It remains to be seen what the future will hold for Monchi after his Villa exit. He will certainly be in high demand, but he may opt to stay out of the limelight for a while to focus on his passion project of overseeing revived lower-league Spanish side CD San Fernando 1950.

As for Villa, they have moved swiftly to secure a replacement, with David Ornstein of The Athletic reporting that they have reached an agreement with Roberto Olabe.

The 57-year-old surprisingly left Real Sociedad earlier this year after an impressive seven-year stint that saw him sign the likes of Martin Odegaard and Alexander Isak.

He was one of the names heavily linked with the sporting director job at Arsenal following Edu's departure, but the Gunners appointed Andrea Berta instead.

He will now get his chance in the Premier League after all, and he will add to the growing Basque presence in England's top flight. Ornstein believes that the appointment of Olabe will be seen as a 'significant coup' in the industry due to his glowing reputation.

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