Aston Villa have set out their stall in the closing weeks of the transfer window, with Unai Emery targeting a new defender and striker.
During this summer window, Aston Villa may have strengthened with the addition of eight new signings but they’re still light in two key areas.
The Villans have a big issue at centre-back; Tyrone Mings is still in the recovery phase following his ACL injury and Diego Carlos is poised to exit Villa, leaving just Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres as realistic first-team options in central defence.
As a result, Emery has been linked with moves for multiple defenders but the one they’re chasing the hardest is Lutsharel Geertuida from Feyernoord.
Villa would be killing two birds with one stone by signing Geertruida, who can play as a right-back or centre-back, depending on the system.
The 24-year-old was originally valued at £26m by the Dutch giants however, a fresh asking price has now emerged.
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Aston Villa learn fresh asking price for Feyenoord defender Lutsharel Geertruida
ESPN (Netherlands site) report that Villa are ‘trying’ to add Geertruida to their squad but ‘an agreement’ still hasn’t been reached with Feyenoord over a transfer fee.
They now value their star defender at €35 million (£30 million) and until the Birmingham outfit get rid of some players, namely Carlos, they don’t want to meet that valuation for the time being.
Emery recently admitted that he’s reached the squad limit of 25 players and needs to sell some of his assets before he can buy, despite already offloading Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby for big money.
It appears any move for Carlos – who has attracted interest from Fulham and West Ham – could be a contributing factor in Villa’s pursuit of Geertruida, who has proven he’s worth paying £30 million for.
The stats that show why Geertruida is worth £30 million
Emery had a major defensive problem towards the end of last season. One experiment he tried was playing Konsa at right-back instead of Matty Cash and this worked, particularly in the big wins over Manchester City and Arsenal.
Cash struggled for form towards the back end of last term and in pre-season, 18-year-old Kosta Nedeljkovic has looked very impressive at right-back.
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Signing Geertruida, meanwhile, is an upgrade on the Poland international at right-back and Carlos at centre-back.
In the Eredivisie last term, the Dutch dynamo was deployed as an attacking right-back who provided eight goals and five assists in 35 appearances.
Geertruida also impressed across several underlying statistics, averaging a whopping 7.94 progressive passes per 90, 2.55 progressive carries and a non-penalty xG of 0.22.
Dubbed ‘superb’ by talent scout Jacek Kulig, the Netherlands international would bring defensive solidity to Emery’s back line while offering incredible attacking potential; two ingredients that were lacking down Villa’s right flank in 2023/24.
