Aston Villa are reportedly targeting a right-back, who can also play as a right-sided centre-half, this month, and Wesley Franca could be a target.
That area of Unai Emery’s squad has long been an issue, as with Matty Cash as our only senior, experienced and natural right-back option, we’ve had to shuffle things around in his absence.
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It often leads to Ezri Konsa being forced to fill the void, and although that solution has paid off on occasion, on the whole, neither he nor the Villa backline looks entirely comfortable or as solid when we go down that route.
That also sees Diego Carlos start in the middle which hasn’t always delivered the desired results either, while youngsters Kosta Nedeljkovic and Lamare Bogarde have seemingly not yet convinced Emery enough to give them a consistent run in the side when needed.
In turn, according to The Times, Villa are said to be in the market for a right-back who can also play as a right-sided centre-half in the January transfer window, and speculation has suggested that we’ve already got a target in mind to address the former role at least.
As per Brazilian journalist Vene Casagrande, Villa have had a €15m offer for Wesley Franca rejected by Flamengo, as we’ve seemingly identified a potential solution, but it remains to be seen if we return with an improved bid to try and prise him away from the Brazilian giants in the coming weeks.
Wesley, 21, looks to be an exciting talent with a promising future ahead of him, and he’s gained plenty of experience already despite his age having made 108 senior appearances for Flamengo already.
If he has indeed convinced Monchi, Emery and the Villa management that he can be our long-term solution in that position, then it will be fascinating to see if we return with another offer, but it’s another young talent who has a lot of development ahead of him still and no experience playing in Europe, rather than a more established player, and so it raises question marks over what the pecking order would look like.
Further, this particular move wouldn’t address the need of having a versatile player who can play in the middle too, and so particularly with Pau Torres potentially facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury, time will tell what Villa’s priorities are this month and who emerges as the ideal and most feasible option to strengthen the squad.
