Aston Villa are reportedly interested in West Ham Utd defender Craig Dawson as we look to add competition and depth in the centre-half positions.
Villa were dealt a major blow this month after summer signing Diego Carlos suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, and after undergoing surgery, he will be sidelined until next year.
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With Tyrone Mings missing this past weekend’s defeat to the Hammers through illness, it left Steven Gerrard with Ezri Konsa and Calum Chambers as his only options in the centre, with Kortney Hause recently moving on to Watford on loan.
Evidently, that is a risky position to be in with a lack of depth, and so a priority for Villa ahead of the transfer deadline will seemingly be to add another defender and according to The Telegraph’s Mike McGrath, Dawson has emerged as a top option for us.
With over 200 appearances in the Premier League during spells with West Ham, West Bromwich Albion and Watford, Dawson boasts real experience at this level and although he is now 32 years of age, he could be a reliable addition to the squad to fit a particular role for us.
Time will tell if we can agree terms with both West Ham and the player himself with the report above suggesting that there is interest from elsewhere too, but ultimately it’s a smart transfer target to address an area of weakness for us and it’s something that we will ideally find a solution for before the transfer deadline.
Mings will hopefully be available in midweek at Arsenal as his illness shouldn’t keep him out for long, but with Carlos coming back towards the end of the season, Villa are perhaps in a difficult situation in that we don’t want to invest too much on a stopgap solution until the Brazilian defender is back.