Aston Villa are reportedly interested in signing Real Madrid defender Nacho as Unai Emery eyes reinforcements.
The Villa boss will get his first opportunity to strengthen our squad next month, and the expectation is that he will receive backing from the hierarchy to start stamping his mark on the group.
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Emery will have had two months to assess his squad at close quarters by the time the January transfer window opens, and so he’ll hope to have a good idea of where we need to bring in new faces and improve.
According to Mundo Deportivo, one area that he might address is the defence, as it’s reported that we’re interested in Nacho, who is set to see his contract at Real Madrid expire next summer.
That in turn could see the 32-year-old become available in January for a lesser fee, and so combined with his lack of playing time so far this season, a January exit could be on the cards with Villa and Wolves paired with an interest.
It’s added that Nacho is a player Emery has admired for some time, but time will tell if Villa opt to make a bid and if so, whether it’s enough to convince Real Madrid to sell and to persuade Nacho to make the move to join us.
The experienced centre-half has made 286 appearances for the Spanish giants having come through their youth system, while he also has 22 caps for Spain as he has gained invaluable experience at the top level for both club and country.
In turn, if Emery wishes to add leadership and pedigree, Nacho would tick the right boxes. That said, is it a signing that we necessarily need given his age and the depth in the current squad?
Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Calum Chambers are currently vying for places, while Diego Carlos will hopefully soon be back involved and ultimately back in the Villa starting XI.
Jan Bednarek is on loan until the end of the season, and so perhaps Emery sees a spot opening up and believes Nacho could be the right fit for us moving forward.
It remains to be seen how the situation plays out and if we make a genuine effort to sign him, but Villa will surely be busy in January as we look to back Emery to improve the squad.