Scottish Premierleague giants Celtic and Championship promotion hopefuls Aston Villa want to sign Yeovil Town’s Tom James?
It could be a battle between Celtic and Aston Villa this summer to sign highly-rated Yeovil Town youngster Tom James.
The Independent claimed that the Scottish Premiership champions are keen to bring in the 21-year-old this summer after an excellent first full season at Huish Park, and the Bristol Post claims that Aston Villa are very interested too.
But should the struggles of one fellow young defender convince James to shun the claret and blue for green and white this summer?
After all, James Bree arrived at Villa Park for £3 million like James would – as a promising right-back keen to take his career to the next level after impressing at a lower level, in this case for Barnsley in League One and then in the Championship for the first half of the 2016/17 season.
But all has not gone to plan for Bree. He has made just eight league starts for Aston Villa in 14 months with manager Steve Bruce seemingly unwilling to give him a chance.
And with Ahmed Elmohamady already at Villa Park and the Birmingham Mail claiming that Alan Hutton could get a new contract, James might find himself in a similarly difficult position if he chose the Midland giants.
Celtic, however, could offer him a better chance of first-team football, particularly with the long-serving Swede Mikael Lustig looking a shadow of his former self at times this season.
Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers is renowned for putting his faith in youth. James and fellow youngster Tony Ralston would give Celtic two very promising options at right-back over the next few years.
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