Aston Villa are in need of a centre-back and Chelsea duo Ethan Ampadu and Gary Cahill have both been touted to move to the club.
Aston Villa only have two recognised centre-backs at the club which makes it a priority for Dean Smith to bulk up in that area when the transfer window re-opens next month.
The two names that have been touted to move to Villa Park have been Chelsea duo Ethan Ampadu and the experienced Gary Cahill, both of whom are struggling to earn regular game time at Stamford Bridge this season.
The Telegraph recently reported that the defensively-weak Villa would be keen to bring Cahill back to Villa Park as they aim to gain promotion to the Premier League for the third time of asking.
Added with that, Goal have also been speculating in recent weeks that Villa would like to sign Wales youngster Ampadu during the winter transfer window.
For the Championship, both of those players would add huge qualities to Villa’s backline, but if they had to pick, they should try and lure Ampadu to the Midlands.
Villa’s problems at the back aren’t that they lack experience, they have enough of that in James Chester, Alan Hutton, Neil Taylor and Ahmed Elmohmady. It is the fact that they lack balance and depth.
Both their current centre-backs, in Axel Tuanzebe and Chester, prefer to play on the right-hand side, not forgetting that they only have one bonafide left-back at the club in Taylor, who is currently injured.
All of that results in Villa not flowing as naturally as they would like, and whilst supporters would welcome Cahill’s return, the left-footed Ampadu would add more balance and freshness to the club compared to the two-time Premier League winner.
Ampadu is also a Wales international, he has played alongside Chester and Taylor for his country and would not need to get used to their game. Another reason why Villa should favour the highly-rated Premier League man.
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