Journalist, David Ornstein has opened up about Aston Villa’s January business and believes they will be in the market for a right back.
It has been a great season so far for Aston Villa, there is no doubt about that. They currently occupy third place in the Premier League almost halfway through the season.
The improvement of the Villans under Unai Emery has been clear for all to see and has been emphasised in recent weeks.
Following wins over Manchester City and Arsenal at Villa Park, a club record was broken which sums Villa up right now.
These victories have catapulted them into a title race conversation which has been downplayed by both Emery and John McGinn.
With all this being said, the January transfer window is fast approaching and will provide the opportunity to add to the squad. It appears that there is one particular position that the hierarchy at the club have set their eyes on.
What has David Ornstein said?
Following the summer window, Villa have plenty of depth in almost all areas with most positions having two or more options. With that being said, the right-back position has just Matty Cash as an out-and-out option.
Although in recent weeks, Ezri Konsa has played there and performed very well, it isn’t an ideal situation to have him there. He has been so good as a centre-back that his future needs to be there and not in full-back.
David Ornstein has been speaking on Villa’s ambitions for the January transfer window with The Athletic this week.
On that, he said: “I would be intrigued to see if there’s some competition for Matty Cash through the market. I’ve heard a little bit that suggests right-back is an area that has not drifted from the focus.”
This makes it sound as if it is an idea that is going on in the background but doesn’t appear to be a key objective, this winter.
It must be said that Cash has had a good season so far, despite being dropped in recent weeks. According to his Fbref, he ranks in the top nine percentile for tackles made per 90 with 2.89. This is added to by him being in the top 1% for non-penalty xG for fullbacks.
Villa won’t want to replace the Polish international but competition for his place is necessary. An injury to him would leave Emery light at the back which could derail their great form.
