Aston Villa defender Diego Carlos reported for his first day of pre-season this week as he looks to establish himself in Steven Gerrard’s XI in the coming months.
As per Sky Sports, Villa are said to have signed the Brazilian defender from Sevilla in a deal worth £26m last month, while he put pen to paper on a four-year contract.
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Following an impressive stint with the La Liga outfit, there are high hopes for Carlos as he embarks on a new challenge at Villa, and pre-season will undoubtedly be a crucial period where he settles both on and off the pitch and builds an understanding with his new teammates.
Moving to a new country and adapting to a different environment, culture, team and feeling settled along with his family is naturally going to be a challenging process, but ultimately Carlos was clear in what he is hoping to achieve having now arrived in Birmingham.
Diego Carlos on Villa aims, thoughts on pre-season
“My goals and aims are the same as the Club’s. What the club wants is what I want,” he told VillaTV. “I’m here to be able to add something to the team to be able to proceed, so their goals and aims will always be mine too.
“I’m very excited about the pre-season. The pre-season starts for me now that I’ve set foot on the Club grounds. From now, this season has already started.
“I’m really happy with my first day of training and bit-by-bit we’ll start adapting. We also have the training in Australia to be able to enter the style of training the Club expects from us.”
As he specifically notes, the pre-season schedule will not only help him bond with his new teammates, but it will be a fundamental period where he gets to understand what Gerrard wants of him and the team in general as they develop a style and direction to their play.
It’s hoped that he stays fit, adapts quickly and looks every bit of the player who Villa have signed with the intention of being an integral part of our backline for many years to come.
