In a sign of the complexity and frantic nature of this unorthodox transfer window, Villa are yet to make any moves.
Villa’s urgent need to reinforce the squad appears to be hindered by a range of factors including limited time before the new season, the transfer landscape currently being a sellers market and that the club are known to have a war-chest in excess of £100 million.
The latest curveball is that of player movements amongst clubs who are presently higher in the Premier League pecking order.
This is best demonstrated by the recent switch of Ben Chilwell from Leicester City to Chelsea for an eye-watering £45 million pounds. The 23 year old defender has signed a 5 year deal at Stamford Bridge, but in doing so leaves The Foxes with a vacant full-back role to fill.
Leicester have carved a lucrative but effective conveyor belt of player sales in recent seasons, moving on talent for exhorbitant fees to their rivals, but also using this as a means of re-generating their side.
Unlike the likes of Southampton [for instance], the East Midlanders have so managed to balance their apparent ‘selling club’ approach against investing the proceeds into replacements to maintain their position amongst the modern elite in the domestic game.
The impact upon clubs like Villa is that Brendan Rodgers now finds himself needing to identify and acquire a replacement for Chilwell. With the new Premier League campaign set to re-start on September 12th, reports indicate that former Saints player Matt Targett is of interest.
Embed from Getty ImagesTargett joined Villa from Southampton just last season, raising some eyebrows as a result of a relatively high valuation of £11.5 million.
The 24 year old has a decidedly mixed debut season at Villa Park, with highs such as a dramatic late winner against Brighton, offset against a number of under-whelming defensive performances in a struggling back-line. The former Fulham loanee also found himself on the sidelines on more than one occasion due to troublesome hamstring complaints.
With that said, Targett is currently preferred to Neil Taylor at left back, with the latter now the wrong side of 30.
Whilst reports of Leicester’s interest in Targett are unsettling with the new season fast approaching, the national press suggests that the former England U-21 international is amongst a number of potential shortlisted to replace Chilwell. Further, a proposed offer of £15m would likely be considered derisory at B6, with Villa cash rich and having little or no motivation to sell.
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