Aston Villa have confirmed that Kosta Nedeljkovic has joined RB Leipzig on loan for the rest of the season.
The 19-year-old had played a limited role thus far, making just 10 appearances across all competitions in this campaign.
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Despite Matty Cash’s injury troubles and our lack of alternative natural right-back options, Unai Emery often turned to Ezri Konsa or Lamare Bogarde to fill that void, thus suggesting that Nedeljkovic wasn’t entirely convincing in his adaptation and integration into the side to earn the Villa boss’s trust.
Given he made such a promising impression in pre-season and looked positive when featuring so far this season, it’s disappointing to see him depart on loan, but following the signing of Andres Garcia earlier this month and his subsequent debut against Wolves at the weekend, Nedeljkovic’s playing time was likely to become even more limited.
As per the club’s statement, the talented Serbian international has joined RB Leipzig on loan for the rest of the season, and that part of the move makes a lot of sense as he’ll hopefully secure a more prominent role, gain valuable experience and develop his game with regular playing time.
However, the Bundesliga outfit have added in their statement that there is an option to buy clause included in the agreement, and so should Nedeljkovic impress in the coming months, he may well depart permanently in the summer.
On one hand, if he doesn’t fit what Emery is looking for in his right-back options, then the best thing for all concerned is to go our separate ways as it will be beneficial for both parties in the long run.
That said, Nedeljkovic looks a real talent with a potentially very bright future ahead of him, and having ultimately stalled his career for six months when he arguably should have got more opportunities when we needed cover for Cash, it’s all quite disappointing how this could play out in the end.
Time will tell if he returns to Villa an improved player in the summer with a future under Emery, or if he convinces Leipzig to exercise their option and sign him outright. If it’s the latter, question marks will be raised over the point of the initial swoop to sign him, aside from a potential profit from his sale despite having played so little over the last 12 months.
