By Peter Smith

Copyright birminghammail

Monchi has admitted his disappointment at not being able to land Marco Asensio back at Aston Villa – and his surprise that the player now ended up in Turkey Asensio was a popular loan signing for Villa in the second half of last season when he joined from Paris Saint-Germain, making 21 appearances and scoring eight times. He showed his star potential in performances such as a comeback win over Chelsea, when he scored twice, and he seemed to relish life under Unai Emery. Villa wanted him back, either on a permanent deal or another loan, and were confident they could pull it off – but, instead, the 29-year-old former Real Madrid forward ended up signing for Fenerbahce. He agreed a three-year deal in Istanbul for a transfer fee that was said to be around £7.5 million. Monchi, in an interview with ElDesmarque, was asked if he was surprised how that panned out and said: “Yes, yes, because I thought he was going to end up at Villa Park, which was the objective, but well, in the end, mainly for financial reasons, because PSG were being tougher on us. “Marco was also worried, he was nervous, because he saw the transfer market going on and (the deal was) not closing, so he opted for Fenerbahce and well, let’s hope for his luck. It’s true that I thought, we all thought, that he could end up at Villa Park, because he’d also had a very good six months previously.” Monchi left his position as Villa’s president of football operations last month but will continue working as an advisor for the club’s holding company, V Sports. Everyday, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Aston Villa content. Our dedicated reporter John Townley – who you can follow on X by clicking here – follows Villa home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur – that’s why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you’ll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Villa newsletter here . You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive’s Villa team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club. If you prefer reading our Villa stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Villa as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here . Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here , while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here .