Aston Villa have reportedly secured a €9m deal to sign Crvena zvezda right-back Kosta Nedeljković in a surprise January transfer swoop.
The 18-year-old has come through the youth ranks at Red Star Belgrade, and has gone on to make 18 appearances for the senior side, which includes appearances in the Champions League.
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Capped at U19s level for Serbia, Nedeljkovic is considered a highly-promising talent, and according to Sportklub and Mozzart Sport, Villa have reached an agreement to sign him for a €9m fee.
It’s added that the formalities are yet to be completed but a deal is said to be all-but agreed, with the talented youngster expected to stay with Red Star on loan until the end of the current season, while the Serbian giants will also have a 15 percent sell-on clause.
There is no official word from either club as of yet and so it remains to be seen if the transfer goes through, but it certainly makes sense given Villa are in need of adding a reinforcement at right-back.
Unai Emery confirmed to the media in his press conference last week that Calum Chambers is free to leave the club, while we do have Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa as our current options to play at right-back.
Further, the club exercised its recall option on youngster Kaine Kesler-Hayden this weekend, and so it remains to be seen how this potential reshuffle in that position works out.
Emery has been clear throughout his tenure thus far that he wants two quality options in every role to ensure we’re as competitive as possible in the short-term and long-term future.
The signing of Nedeljkovic would therefore provide Cash with more significant competition for a starting berth, and allow Konsa to play in his preferred role as a centre-half to compete with Diego Carlos to partner one of Pau Torres or Tyrone Mings moving forward, with Clement Lenglet with us on loan until the end of the season.
It’s an intriguing move too given it’s the first, more obscure, addition under President of Football Operations, Monchi, and his staff in conjunction with Emery, and so time will tell if the reports are accurate and just how good a signing Nedeljkovic could prove to be.