Premier League newcomers Aston Villa reportedly want Club Brugge’s Marvelous Nakamba and Angers’ Ligue 1 ace Baptiste Santamaria.
Any newly promoted team who plans to go gung-ho in an attempt to take the Premier League by storm should remember the failings of Fulham.
By the time Slavisa Jokanovic was sacked in December, his naïve attempts to replicate their free-flowing football against the sharks of the top flight had already consigned the Cottagers to relegation. They finished second bottom and conceded a league-high 81 goals.
So Dean Smith will surely be using Fulham as an example of how not to do things as he attempts to establish Aston Villa in the Promised Land after three years in the Championship.
Like Jokanovic, Smith is famed for his attacking approach. But if Aston Villa’s transfer plans are anything to go by, the former Brentford manager is aware of the need for a little more steel in the centre of the park.
According to The Chronicle, Aston Villa are keen to raid Club Brugge for the second time in one summer for £20 million Marvelous Nakamba, a Zimbabwe international who averaged 4.4 interceptions and three tackles per game in last seasons’ Champions League clashes against Dortmund, Atletico Madrid and Monaco.
Angers’ Baptiste Santamaria is also a million target (The Mail). And, like Nakamba, he is strong in the tackle with 3.1 per game in Ligue 1. For comparison, John McGinn produced the most successful tackles in the Championship for Villa last season with just over 2 per 90 minutes.
The most interceptions came from Mile Jedinak (1.7).
Clearly, Smith is aware that Aston Villa need to toughen up. They don’t want to go the way of Fulham.
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