Ritchie de Laet has left Aston Villa to sign for Australian A-League team Melbourne City.
If you were to put money on any Aston Villa player moving to Australia this month, surely you would have bet a wad on Ross McCormack.
Instead, however, it is right-back Ritchie De Laet who is heading down under, joining Melbourne City, the club where McCormack shone during a short spell last season.
The 29-year-old will move to the A-League for the rest of the season, reuniting with his former youth team coach at Manchester United, Warren Joyce. But what does this mean for the Aston Villa side he has left behind?
Well, for one, it seems that Axel Tuanzebe is likely to be stuck at right-back for the foreseeable future.
The 20-year-old returned to Villa Park for another loan spell from Manchester United in the summer and has started five Championship games on the right-hand side of Steve Bruce’s defence.
Villa fans took to Twitter this week to implore Bruce to give Tuanzebe a chance at centre-half, with De Laet potentially coming in to take his place at full-back. But it seems that the England U21 ace might still be needed on the right now the latter has gone.
Which means that, unless a free-agent centre-back arrives, Mile Jedinak could be stuck in the back four, too.
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