Aston Villa have reportedly made contact with Barcelona ahead of a potential swoop for defender Hector Fort this summer.
The 19-year-old right-back has come through the youth ranks with the Catalan giants, and has since gone on to make 30 appearances for the first-team having already made his breakthrough at senior level.
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Capped by Spain from U16s to U19s, he is considered a top talent with a bright future ahead of him, and Villa have seemingly set their sights on trying to bring him to the club.
According to Matteo Moretto, Villa have made an enquiry with Barcelona over his availability as he could leave the club this summer, and so it remains to be seen if that develops into something more serious, and what that means for our current right-back options.
It’s been a problematic position for some time for Villa, with Kosta Nedeljkovic brought in last year, only to be sent out on a second loan spell to RB Leipzig for the upcoming season with an option to buy included in that agreement.
A move for Fort would arguably raise doubts over Andres Garcia’s future at the club amid speculation of interest from Spain, and so the search for competition, depth and a long-term successor to Matty Cash seemingly goes on.
Unai Emery will also perhaps give consideration to talented youngster Triston Rowe who impressed in pre-season, but a potential move for Fort is now also on the agenda, and so time will tell how these initial talks progress and what the plan is for Rowe’s development in the coming years.
Given his experience of coming through the Barcelona youth system and playing for the club at the highest level, he’s an intriguing possible addition to the Villa squad, but having seemingly got it wrong on two right-backs already, or perhaps the plan was always to try and flip them for a profit, it remains to be seen if Fort arrives and follows a similar path, or if we’ve finally identified the right profile of player to be a long-term fixture of our defence.
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