Former Aston Villa scout Bryan King says Barcelona and Real Madrid are already looking at Johan Manzambi, who joined Villa from Freiburg in July.

The 21-year-old scored the winner in Villa’s 1-0 victory at Newcastle United on 17 October, against the club he had reportedly been close to joining.

King did not suggest either Spanish club had made an approach. Separate reporting has linked Manzambi with Barca, but not Madrid.

What King said About Barcelona and Real Madrid

King, who previously scouted for Villa, spoke to Football Insider about Manzambi’s early form. He said the midfielder gets forward and can score goals, called him a pleasant surprise for the Premier League, and said links like this tend to come when a player is doing well.

On the interest from Spain, King said: “Barcelona and Real Madrid are looking at him already.”

He did not explain how he knew of the interest or suggest either club had made an approach.

TEAMtalk has separately reported that Barcelona are impressed by Manzambi’s start at Villa and have taken note of his performances. The report also named Bayern Munich as a club monitoring the midfielder, but did not mention Real Madrid.

Manzambi’s Form Since Joining Villa From Freiburg

Manzambi missed the start of the season with a knee injury. He has since scored three goals and provided two assists in all competitions for Villa, scoring or assisting in each of his first three Premier League starts. Only Dalian Atkinson, Dion Dublin and Danny Ings had achieved that for the club before him.

His 36th-minute header from a João Gomes cross secured the winner at Newcastle. Newcastle had agreed a fee with Freiburg before Villa moved late to sign Manzambi in a club-record deal in July. That was the same summer Morgan Rogers left for Chelsea in a £117m deal.

Unai Emery discussed Villa’s pursuit of Manzambi before the trip to Newcastle, saying: “We tried to compete to sign him and we got him, which is fantastic.”

Manzambi’s contract reportedly runs until 2031, although Villa did not disclose its length when announcing his signing. There is no indication that Manzambi wants to leave Villa. He sees the club as the right place to continue developing under Emery.