Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has seemingly confirmed the club’s interest in signing Villarreal defender Juan Foyth, amid speculation linking us with a move.
Villa are light in that area of the squad currently after Pau Torres suffered an injury setback last month, while Diego Carlos departed last week to join Fenerbahce.
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Our issue was amplified this past weekend as Tyrone Mings now looks set for a spell on the sidelines after picking up a knee injury in our draw with West Ham Utd, and so that leaves Ezri Konsa as our only senior centre-half option.
While Lucas Digne shifted across on Sunday to fill in and we have talented youngster Lamare Bogarde who can play as a centre-back, Villa have to strengthen in that department before the upcoming transfer deadline as that simply isn’t good enough if we want to compete across the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
Speculation has paired us with an interest in Foyth, who Emery knows well from his time at Villarreal prior to taking charge at Villa, and it seems as though the 27-year-old Argentine international could be a solution in the coming days to strengthen our backline.
“Of course I know Juan Foyth because I worked with him,” Emery told reporters, as per Matt Maher. “He is one player, with his quality, he can unite and play with the qualities and the performance we want to add in the squad.”
Having only made four appearances so far this season after recovering from an injury setback of his own, that raises concern over his reliability moving forward as we need quality to go with our numbers at the back, but if Emery feels as though he could do a job and his adaptation process is likely to be quicker and smoother given he knows what the Villa boss wants, it could be a savvy addition this week.
Time will tell if a deal can be done with Villarreal and an agreement is reached with the player on personal terms, and given this was reported prior to Mings’ injury, it also remains to be seen if Villa target two defenders this week to fill the void left behind by Carlos, and a left-sided player who can maintain our balance. The latter is probably unlikely given Mings and Torres should hopefully return in the next month or so.
Speaking of Carlos, Emery also confirmed that it was the Brazilian defender who decided to leave and join Fenerbahce, with Villa keen on keeping him for situations like the one we find ourselves in now.
“We did not want him to leave but he decided to leave because he accepted an offer from Turkey,” he added, as reported by Maher.
While it could be argued that we needed to upgrade anyway given his age, wages, contract length and having been injury and error prone despite playing a key role at times, that would have been a blow for Emery and exacerbated the need to strengthen the Villa defence.
With just days to go in the January transfer window, it’s hoped that our concerns are adequately addressed and the squad is strengthened where necessary, as our lack of options at the back is a real issue.
