James Chester missed the last few months of 2018/19 as Dean Smith’s Aston Villa sealed a return to the Premier League.
Aston Villa went through three managers, two ownership groups and a wide and varied array of players during their three seasons in the Championship.
Amid all the big-money flops and ill-fated loan signings, James Chester was one of the few players to stand out for all the right reasons during one of the most testing periods in the history of these Midland giants.
An £8 million signing from local rivals West Brom in the summer of 2016, Chester has been one of the first name on Villa’s team sheet over the last few years, wearing the captain’s armband with pride and earning fans’ favourite status on the back of some hugely committed performances at centre-half.
But with Aston Villa on the way back to the Premier League, Chester’s role now appears to be very uncertain.
The Welsh international missed the last three months of 2018/19 with a knee injury and, in his absence, Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause established themselves in the starting XI.
Now, Hause has signed permanently from Wolves and Villa are keen to bring Mings back too. Furthermore, The Mirror (19 June, page 48) reports that they are also interested in £25 million-rated Huddersfield Town powerhouse Terence Kongolo.
Should the Dutch international arrive, perhaps in tandem with Mings, you have to wonder what the future holds for Chester.
Could he go from first to fourth choice in a matter of months?
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
