Aston Villa fan and podcaster Craig Storrod has been sharing his thoughts on Villa full-back Frederic Guilbert and his future at the Midlands club.
This comes after Storrod made an appearance on a recent episode of Villa-themed podcast Gather ‘Round the Lamp, where he spoke about a variety of topics concerning Dean Smith’s side.
On the subject of Guilbert, who has been on loan at RC Strasbourg for the season, Storrod had this to say about what he thinks will happen to the defender when he returns to Villa this summer.
He said: “I think he’ll stay, and I think he’ll still be third-choice right-back. I think [Ezri] Konsa is going to be the right-back against the bigger teams when we’re under the cosh and I think that [Kortney] Hause will come into centre-half and I think Guilbert will be the League Cup/FA Cup right-back and he’ll step in if there’s any injury problems.
“I think Guilbert did well, I think that he hopefully has improved, and he should improve.
“I don’t have any problem with Guilbert being our second or third-choice right-back, personally, so I think he hangs around.”
Villa signed Guilbert back in the 2019 January transfer window from French club SM Caen for a fee of £4.5 million, before immediately loaning him back to the club until the end of the season.
Overall, the 26-year-old, who is currently valued at £5.4 million, has made just 31 appearances for Villa in which he has managed to score two goals and provide two assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Craig Storrod’s comments on Guilbert and his future with Villa…
Given how Guilbert managed to end his spell on loan with Strasbourg as their second-highest rated player according to WhoScored with an overall rating of 7.2/10, this shows that he made good use of his time away from Villa Park.
What should Villa do with Guilbert this summer?
Keep him in the squad for next season
Loan him out again
Sell him
Also, with Ahmed Elmohamady recently confirming his exit from Villa Park, perhaps replacing him with Guilbert and keeping him in the squad for next season would provide the club with a cheaper alternative than splashing out on a new right-back to replace the departing Egyptian, in our view.
In other news: ‘He’s one that can be got’ – Aston Villa told to sign star who ‘scored more than Grealish’