Aston Villa have announced the signing of Andres Garcia from Levante, in a deal believed to be worth around an initial £6m.
The 21-year-old established himself as a key figure with the Spanish outfit, making 50 appearances at senior level after coming through the youth ranks, and in addition to his defensive work, he contributed four goals and six assists to show he can make an impact in both phases.
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As per Villa’s statement, he will now embark on a new chapter in his career as we’ve confirmed the signing of the Spaniard, and he will now look to integrate and settle in the coming weeks and months to hopefully play an important role for Unai Emery. Previous reports have suggested that the deal is worth around £6m initially with add-ons.
The right-back position has been problematic for the Basque coach over the past year or so, as with a lack of experienced competition and depth behind Matty Cash, we haven’t really found a viable solution.
Kosta Nedeljkovic is expected to be loaned out this month as he seemingly hasn’t been able to successfully adapt and convince Emery that he’s ready to step in to fill that void on a consistent basis just yet, despite impressing when involved, and so hopefully he comes back an improved player ready to fight for that spot next season, should he depart temporarily.
Lamare Bogarde has the versatility to play that role, as does Ezri Konsa who has been favoured by Emery in the absence of Cash to shift across, but the Villa defender is undoubtedly more comfortable and effective in his natural role as a centre-half, and so perhaps this move for Garcia reflects the desire to keep him in the middle moving forward.
It also arguably raises question marks or at least raises the pressure on Cash in the long run, as with two talented and highly promising talents now at the club in his position, he could very well face a battle to keep his spot.
Garcia himself is still lacking experience at the top level, and so it will be interesting to see just how involved he is for the remainder of the campaign, but evidently having plucked him from the second tier of Spanish football, Emery, Monchi and our scouting department have spotted something they like in him, and he’ll likely be a good fit for our system and style of play.
The Spaniard is our second January signing after the arrival of Donyell Malen last week, and so we’ve made two important moves already this month to strengthen the squad in key areas that we needed to address.
