Johan Manzambi’s move to Aston Villa in doubt after Rwanda deal?

Newcastle United may be watching on in anticipation of a huge fallout after Aston Villa announced a new front-of-shirt sponsor.

Before we get too far into this, it's worth pointing out that the parts about Johan Manzambi are purely internet speculation at this point, and there has been nothing official at the time of writing.

However, there are reports floating around on the cesspit that is X that Manzambi has taken umbrage with the fact that Aston Villa has announced Visit Rwanda as their new front-of-shirt sponsor.

Manzambi, whose father is Congolese, is said to be upset at the move given Rwanda's 30-year conflict with DR Congo and could be rethinking his move to the Midlands. This comes after Chris Waugh claimed that some key figures inside Newcastle hadn't given up on resurrecting the deal for the 20-year-old.

Visit Rwanda is fine for Arsenal but not for Aston Villa

Away from Manzambi, though, Aston Villa are facing some strong criticism for their decision to go with Visit Rwanda in a £20 million-a-year deal, and are being accused of sportswashing.

Newcastle fans know all too well how it feels to be tarred with that brush after the takeover by the Saudi Arabian PIF.

What's interesting in this case, though, is that Arsenal have had Visit Rwanda as a sleeve sponsor and nobody batted an eyelid.

Once again, we're seeing the hypocrisy that is rife within football. The Septic Six can do anything they like with little to no scrutiny, but if anyone outside of those money-spinning darlings dares to do something controversial, it's headline news for months, and everyone should stop what they're doing and point the judgmental finger.

Newcastle and Villa fans should unite

I know there's supposed to be some crazy rivalry between Aston Villa and Newcastle that stems back from the "Sob on the Tyne" banner when Newcastle got relegated at Villa Park, but honestly, I'm over that now, and I think that both clubs are so closely tied these days that we should put all that aside and unite.

Both clubs are fighting to break through that top six barrier, and both are being held back by ridiculous financial restrictions and stupid stuff like this.

Is Visit Rwanda a good choice to have plastered all over your club? Probably not, no, but when tobacco, alcohol and betting companies are all banned from being sponsors, you're just pushing clubs towards corrupt and questionable entities (not that the aforementioned three are squeaky clean). 

Any company that has the money to sponsor a Premier League football team is bound to have something shady going on. Vast wealth doesn't come from playing nice.