Martin Baturina to Aston Villa: Como demand £68m as Premier League elite circle Croatian gem
Martin Baturina to Aston Villa: The price tag tells you everything. Como want €80m (£68m) for Martin Baturina, and they are completely dug in. The Serie A outfit made their stance crystal clear after knocking back a €55m opening bid, which is widely believed to have dropped from a Premier League boardroom. The message sent back to the suitors was entirely blunt: pay the €80m or do not bother calling.
Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa have both initiated direct contact with the Italian club. Croatian outlet 24 Sata and transfer specialist Matteo Moretto have confirmed the initial enquiries, while German giants Bayern Munich are also keeping tabs on the situation. Having three heavyweights queuing up at the same time shows exactly what kind of talent we are dealing with here. (Via Sport Witness)
A tactical fit for Emery, but Spurs hold financial muscle
Unai Emery needs elite depth. Having guided Villa into the Champions League places once again, the manager wants profiles who can handle elite continental football. Baturina is exactly that type of footballer. He loves to station himself out on the left flank before drifting inside to cause chaos in the half-spaces, creating 2.57 key passes per game during a blistering post-January run.
It was a dramatic shift in momentum for the player. Before the turn of the year, he had started just three league games. Then things clicked. He started ten matches after January, racking up six goals and three assists in Serie A alone.
Over the entire 2025/26 campaign, the playmaker managed eight goals and four assists from 34 appearances. Those are seriously impressive numbers for a debut season in Italy, especially with a newly promoted squad finding its feet in the top flight. His Transfermarkt valuation has jumped by €12m since his move, sitting at a modest €30m, but Como’s current demands reflect real-world market leverage rather than arbitrary database values.
Spurs offer fierce competition. Roberto De Zerbi has overseen an incredible summer window in North London, snapping up Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, and Martin Dubravka for absolutely nothing. They then broke their transfer record twice in quick succession, splashing £85m on Mateus Fernandes before dropping a cool £100m for Sandro Tonali.
They still want a wide forward and a traditional number nine. Baturina satisfies the creative requirement perfectly. He is fresh from international duty too, having scored a brilliant goal against England at the World Cup before Croatia fell to Portugal in the Round of 16 last week.
Represented by Agron Krasniqi and Ismet Dizdarevic at Agency Bola, the 23-year-old is tied down to Como until 2030. That contract duration completely strips the buying clubs of any negotiating leverage. Cesc Fàbregas just secured Champions League football for the first time in Como’s history, so he will not let his main man head to a European rival without a massive premium.
The €80m release clause written into the contract protects that position. Meeting that price point would severely test Villa’s profit and sustainability calculation, even with elite-tier European revenue coming in. Roberto Olabe has a massive decision to make.
