Aston Villa have reportedly reached an agreement with Barcelona on a season-long loan deal for defender Clement Lenglet.
Following the injury suffered by Tyrone Mings on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, it had been expected that Villa may move to address that major setback and try to fill the void left behind.
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While Diego Carlos has stepped up and impressed in our last two games, there is still a lack of depth and cover with a lot expected from the Brazilian, Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa this season, as we try to compete on multiple fronts.
According to Sport, Villa have now acted and agreed a loan move for Lenglet until the end of the season, while it’s suggested that there is no option to buy included in the deal.
Further, the report notes that Villa will pay 75 percent of the Frenchman’s wages, with Barcelona covering the rest, and the temporary move is now expected to be made official in the coming hours as Lenglet is said to be travelling to Birmingham on Wednesday afternoon.
Albeit a short-term fix, the move makes a lot of sense if the details above are accurate, as Villa ultimately secure a solution in Mings’ absence to ensure we have enough at Unai Emery’s disposal this season to compete across four competitions.
With his experience, technical ability, preference to play on the left side of the centre-half pairing and defensive qualities, the hope is that Lenglet will be a good fit for our system and style of play, and will essentially be a vital asset to have for a year to get us closer to the level we hope to compete at.
It will give Emery the ability to rotate and rest players more often even if Lenglet is to have a limited role, but it’s important to have that depth on the bench as we look to have two secure options in every position this season given the workload the players will hope to take on if we achieve our objectives both domestically and in Europe.
Further, with no option to buy said to be included in the agreement, that certainly gives the impression that Emery is merely looking to fill the Mings-shaped void for this season, with the hope that he’ll return and get back to his previous levels next year to re-join Torres, Konsa and Carlos as our main four options in defence.