Journalist Pete O’Rourke has commented on a potential ‘shock’ Aston Villa decision to replace January signing Lucas Digne with Rangers star Calvin Bassey this summer.
The Villans enjoyed a steady first season under their new manager, finishing 14th in the Premier League table and only six points off a top ten finish. As a result, the board are focusing on building around Gerrard’s vision for the team with Philippe Coutinho, Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos all coming in on permanent deals already.
However, it looks like they are not going to stop there as O’Rourke doesn’t believe Gerrard will make the huge decision by replacing £25m signing Digne with Bassey, despite being one of the best left-backs in the Premier League, which he believes could mean they are looking at him for a centre-back role instead.
He told GiveMeSport, “I think Lucas Digne is one of the best left-backs in the Premier League on his day, and they did spend big money on him in the January transfer window, so it would be a shock if they were already looking at maybe a potential replacement for him.
“So maybe centre-back rather than left-back Calvin Bassey is being targeted for.”
TIF Thoughts on O’Rourke’s comments…
It would be a surprise if Villa does replace Digne with Bassey at the left-back position, it makes far more sense to bring in the 22-yar-old for competition at centre-back considering the poor fitness record of Ezri Konsa and Kortney Hause suffering injuries throughout the season.
Who would you rather have?Digne
Bassey
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Bassey would be a good signing as he did impress last season, especially in the Europa League final. He averaged 1.6 tackles and 1,4 clearances per game this season according to Whoscored and ranked in the 99th percentile for blocks and dribbles completed at the position as well as 95th for assists and 94th for pressures. (Fbref)
It feels more sensible for Villa to bring in Bassey as a centre-back option as they have both Digne and now Matt Targett as he returned from Newcastle. However, football has shown to be crazy at times so who knows where he will play at the midlands side.