£8m Aston Villa man would’ve been brilliant Leeds signing

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The Aston Villa man would’ve been very useful at Leeds United.

Aston Villa loaned out James Chester last week – and some Leeds United fans could justifiably ask why their club wasn’t in the running.

Villa lent the 31-year-old defender to Stoke City who, given they could be a League One side come May, certainly need him more than the promotion-chasing Elland Road outfit.

But Leeds didn’t seem interested in Chester or indeed any centre-back, but the Aston Villa veteran would’ve been a wonderful addition.

Let’s face it, Marcelo Bielsa is going to need a lot of things to go in his favour if the Whites are to get back in the Premier League, despite having a three-point cushion in the automatic promotion places.

Not only is Bielsa going to hope new signing Jean-Kevin Augustin scores the goals that take United back to the top flight, but he also has to ensure that they aren’t leaking them at the other end.

They have conceded seven goals in their last five Championship games, three of which have ended in defeat.

The Ben White-Liam Cooper partnership isn’t quite as solid as it was at the start of the year, when Leeds shipped only five Championship goals by the beginning of October.

What’s more worrying is that they could be in serious trouble if one of them picks up a major injury, given that Gaetano Berardi, a right-back, and centre-midfielder Kalvin Phillips are the understudies.

By not signing a centre-back in January, Bielsa has rolled the dice and if the Aston Villa man – an £8 million signing in 2016 [The Birmingham Mail] – does a job for Stoke every week then there should be questions asked as to why Leeds weren’t in the running.

He played very little football in 2019 due to injury and the Villans signing four centre-backs last summer, but the Wales international, who has 35 caps for his country, has a ton of experience and Bielsa could’ve done with it.

He also could’ve done with his aerial ability, after telling Leeds Live this past weekend that the only ‘very good’ player he has at heading the ball is Cooper – and Chester has won 112 aerial battles and managed 154 headed clearances in 60 Premier League appearances [PL site].

Considering he was available on loan, this one might’ve been a no-brainer for the West Yorkshire side – especially if they fall short in the promotion stakes again.