Gregg Evans has been speaking on The Athletic’s YouTube channel about Aston Villa’s failure to sign a centre-midfielder this winter.
It has been a very impressive transfer window for the Villans and Steven Gerrard, who have managed to bring in Lucas Digne, Philippe Coutinho, Calum Chambers and Robin Olsen – with three of them arguably likely to feature regularly.
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However, Evans has claimed that Villa are still in need of a holding midfielder, which explains why they were linked with a move for Yves Bissouma this month.
While he praised Villa’s transfer window, he bemoaned their inability to bring in a defensive midfielder.
“We all know that a defensive midfielder has been on the radar for a couple of transfer windows now. And I think Villa fans will agree with me in saying that there’s no real central midfielder at the club that can do that defensive-midfield role that they’re looking for at the moment.
“They need somebody to sit in front of the back four and really offer that regular consistent protection. Douglas Luiz is doing it at the moment, but he isn’t doing it as well as some of the other players that are in that specific role could do, and we know that Douglas Luiz would like to play further up the pitch.”
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While Evans believes Villa still require someone in the defensive-midfield role, they may not find themselves in a terrible position despite failing to add to their ranks there this month.
The club have made a promising start under Gerrard, and given they have made big-name additions – particularly in the shape of Coutinho – there is no reason why they cannot improve on their results from the first half of the season.
With the club not involved in a relegation battle, they are arguably set up to fill the position in the summer when transfers are arguably easier to arrange, so perhaps it is only a matter of time before they eventually solve their problems in that area.
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