Aston Villa have confirmed that Clement Lenglet has joined the club on loan from Barcelona for the remainder of this season.
The 28-year-old boasts experience at the top level after spells with Sevilla and the Catalan giants, while he spent last year on loan at Tottenham, and so his adaptation to life back in the Premier League should hopefully be quick and straight-forward.
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Further, he has 15 caps for France, and so with that pedigree and experience gained through his career thus far, he will hopefully prove to be a smart signing from Villa, who confirmed his arrival in an official statement on Friday.
Lenglet becomes our fifth signing of the summer, following on from moves for Youri Tielemans, Pau Torres, Moussa Diaby and Nicolo Zaniolo, and he’s an important addition to the squad for several reasons.
Emery adds key depth, short-term solution in Mings absence
After the significant blow of losing Tyrone Mings to injury in the first game of the Premier League season, Villa needed to address a glaring lack of depth in that area of the squad.
Particularly with Emery possibly preferring to field all three of Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos and Pau Torres in our backline, there was concern that we didn’t have enough in that department to cope with what will hopefully be a hectic and gruelling schedule this season, as we look to compete on multiple fronts for silverware.
In turn, this gives the Villa boss flexibility in terms of rotation and competition for places, while with Lenglet’s experience, technical ability and defensive strengths, he could prove to be a solid fit for our system and style of play.
Emery and the players have worked tirelessly to implement a new identity and idea of playing since he took charge last November, and that starts with an ability to control tempo in games with possession and building out from the back.
We’ve seen how effective Torres has been since he arrived, and now Lenglet will add another fundamental option on the left side of a centre-half pairing to give us versatility and depth.
Further, given it is reportedly just a loan deal with no option to buy as Villa will pay 75 percent of his wages for this year, as per Fabrizio Romano, it’s essentially a short-term fix to ensure we have enough this season, before welcoming Mings back from his injury, hopefully towards the back-end of this campaign.
With those key aspects in mind, it’s a move that makes a lot of sense from a Villa perspective, and there is little doubt that both Emery and Monchi would have meticulously analysed the possible options available in the market, and felt that Lenglet would be the best fit for us in the current situation.
Naturally, the success of the move will depend on Lenglet’s ability to settle, adapt and produce his best form. However, given how we’ve seen almost every player in this Villa squad improve and develop under Emery, there is confidence that he proves to be a savvy addition, and one that helps us achieve our objectives this season.
