Aston Villa have officially announced the signing of Leander Dendoncker from Wolves, and have confirmed his new shirt number at the club.
As per the club’s statement, the 27-year-old has joined from Wolves on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee, and he will now embark on a new chapter in his career after gaining significant experience at our Midlands rivals.
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With over 150 appearances at Wolves coupled with 29 caps at international level for Belgium, Dendoncker boasts important experience at a high level and adds height and strength to a side certainly lacking in both.
Additionally, with his versatility to be able to play either as a defensive midfielder or defender, he will give Villa boss Steven Gerrard options moving forward and will hopefully quickly become a valuable member of the squad that could potentially now allow us to change system too.
According to David Ornstein, the deal is said to be worth £13m, and so Villa will hope that our latest acquisition will strengthen our midfield and address a key weakness which was on display again in midweek at Arsenal as we were overrun and outplayed in that department.
Time will tell if there are any further exits before the transfer deadline, as it’s hoped that Dendoncker has been signed to complement our current options as opposed to fill an incoming void. However, the Belgian international is undoubtedly excited about getting started and it will be interesting to see how soon he’s brought into the fold and what role he’ll take up.
“I’m very excited to have signed for Villa,” he told VillaTV. “It’s a new challenge for me. I’m really excited to be here and I’ve already been shown around the training ground. I can feel that this a big club, you can just feel it. I obviously know the players from playing against them, and I know it’s a very good team with good players.
“I’m really happy to be here.
“There’s always a great atmosphere there. I’ve obviously scored against you guys before and hopefully I’ll be able to score for us now. I’ll give my best to try and help the team as much as I can. It’s a big stadium with good fans and I’m really excited to get started.”
As seen in the image below, Villa have also confirmed that Dendoncker will wear the No.32 shirt this season, and while it remains to be seen if Gerrard thinks he’s ready to face Man City this weekend, the countdown begins to see him make his Villa debut and to judge whether or not he can make a tangible difference in our midfield moving forward.
Leander Dendoncker will wear the #️⃣3️⃣2️⃣ shirt for Aston Villa. 👌
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) September 1, 2022
