With Aston Villa reported to have agreed a deal to sign Zepiqueno Redmond on a free transfer, the club appear to have landed another top young talent.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Villa have agreed a deal to sign the 18-year-old as a free agent with his contract with Feyenoord set to expire next month, while he’ll put pen to paper on a contract with us until June 2029.
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With limited experience at senior level for the Dutch giants, Redmond has made a positive impression with the youth teams, and as he looks set for the next chapter in his career with Villa, evidently Monchi and our recruitment team have spotted his talent and believe he could be an exciting prospect for the future.
While we await his move to become official, we analyse what Redmond has shown to this point and what we might expect from him if he arrives as anticipated later this summer.
Zepiqueno Redmond analysis, scouting profile
Redmond joined Feyenoord in July 2019 and has since gone on to work his way up through the youth ranks with the Eredivisie side, scoring goals and making a positive impression at each level.
He registered 11 goals in 22 appearances for the U17s, 16 in 43 for the U18s, one in three for the U19s and three in 16 for the U21s before making his breakthrough with the first-team.
Albeit he lacks experience at the top level, he has two goals in nine appearances at senior level, while he’s bagged two goals in seven appearances for the Netherlands U19s.
Aside from his goal tallies, the talented centre-forward has the versatility to operate on the flanks, but he has shown real potential when leading the line as he utilises his physicality well to hold up the ball, while he has the touch, vision and technical ability to link things together and bring teammates into play.
He certainly looks capable of being a real handful of a focal point up top and is efficient in dropping deeper into space to act as a link to build passages of play, and while comparisons will be drawn with Jhon Duran given the similarities in their respective games, it should give us a different dynamic in the attacking third, should he establish himself in Unai Emery’s plans.
Redmond appears to have the physical attributes needed to adapt to the English game, and so it will be fascinating to watch his progress as we’ve added another talent to our youth set-up, and it remains to be seen if he’ll be developed in-house or if a suitable loan opportunity presents itself for him to gain experience and improve further.
Villa are continuing to identity and bring in top prospects, and so whether it’s with a view of breaking into the senior squad at some stage or perhaps making wise investments with an intention of making a profit further down the road for PSR purposes, it’s a vital part of our strategy and it’s imperative that we continue to work diligently in that area.
The hope is that we get to see Redmond in pre-season at least before a decision is made on his more immediate future, as it will be intriguing to watch the process of his adaptation and integration given the promise he’s shown in his young career thus far.
