Journalist Pete O’Rourke claims that Inter defender Stefan de Vrij would be a massive signing for Aston Villa if they can acquire his services in the summer.
De Vrij is an experienced Dutch defender, making 346 league appearances across 13 seasons in the Eredivisie and Serie A with Feyenoord, Lazio and Inter. In this campaign, he has featured 22 times in league proceedings for the Nerazzurri.
There have been rumours of a move away from Italy for De Vrij in the summer, with the main clubs concerned being Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, who will reportedly both attempt to lure him into the Premier League.
With the news that Premier League clubs are interested in the Dutch defender, O’Rourke spoke to GiveMeSport and claimed that he would be a “real big signing” for Steven Gerrard if he was to join Villa in the summer.
He said: “I think it’s somebody that Villa will have on their radar. Somebody like Stefan de Vrij would be a real big signing for Aston Villa.”
TIF Thoughts on Pete O’Rourke’s comments…
Interestingly, De Vrij’s agent is the world-renowned Mino Raiola, who has a whole host of huge players under his guidance such as Erling Haaland, Paul Pogba and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
De Vrij has been a key performer for Inter this season, as he has a passing accuracy of 92% in Serie A, has won 61% of his total duels and loses possession on average just 4.8 times per game, as per SofaScore.
The Dutchman has a current market value of £31.5m (as per Transfermarkt), so if Villa can acquire him for a fee of around that price, it could be deemed as a great bit of business by Gerrard due to his impressive form this term for Inter, who are fighting for the Scudetto.
However, if other clubs get involved as we head closer to the summer transfer window, it may be difficult to see him dropping away from Champions League football to play for Villa when teams who may play in the competition – such as Spurs – have also shown interest.