The 19-year-old arrived at the club in a £3 million deal from Barnsley.
Rajiv Van La Parra of Huddersfield Town has a shot blocked by James Bree of Aston Villa
Aston Villa made plenty of moves in the January transfer window as Steve Bruce looked to improve the side. One of the big swoops they made was the double raid on Barnsley. Aston Villa snapped up both midfielder Conor Hourihane and right-back James Bree from the Yorkshire club.
Bree arrived in a deal reported by the Birmingham Mail to be in the region of £3 million from the Tykes.
The talented 19-year-old has had to bide his time for first-team football since making the switch to Villa Park but he has now played three times for the club and is loving every minute of it.
Speaking to the official Aston Villa website he had this to say about playing for the club:
“It’s great to be here at Aston Villa. The place is unbelievable and unreal.
“It’s great to get settled in and get to know the lads, which I have done.”
Barnsley’s James Bree (L) in action with Fleetwood Town’s David Henen
He went on to discuss his chances of battling veteran defender Alan Hutton out of the starting XI on a permanent basis when the Scot returns from his injury trouble:
“You have to take your chances in football. It happened with me. I was in the team then got injured and Hutts came in.
“Hopefully I can stay in the team, keep progressing, keep playing and see how many games I can get this season.
“When Hutts comes back, let’s see what happens. It will be good competition. We will go from there.”
Aston Villa have plenty of right-back options, with Micah Richards and Ritchie De Laet also injured and Leandro Bacuna capable at full-back. But Bree is the one Villa want to build around for the future and he will hope to hold off Hutton and maintain his place in the starting XI for the rest of the season.
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