View: Diego Carlos aerial prowess will win Aston Villa many games
Aston Villa have had a fantastic start to the summer transfer window with three permanent signings already completed at Villa Park.
Philippe Coutinho and Boubacar Kamara are already confirmed and on Wednesday (1 June) the Villans announced the signing of Sevilla defender Diego Carlos via the club’s Twitter account.
The 29-year-old spent three seasons in La Liga and helped Sevilla to a string of top-half finishes as well as Europa League exploits but he is ready for a new challenge and that will be in the Midlands.
The Brazilian, who won an Olympic gold medal with his nation at Tokyo 2020, comes to the club to fill a gap in the centre of defence and you can see why Steven Gerrard has pushed hard to make this deal happen.
His defensive ability is unquestionable and he will provide a very solid base for the rest of the team to go and express themselves alongside whichever defender Gerrard trusts but he can also affect the opposite end of the pitch.
He scored three times in La Liga during the 2021-22 campaign and all three goals were remarkably similar, with Carlos finding space in the area and being able to steer a header in the right direction.
The first image was perhaps the easiest to score from as he managed to find himself inexplicably unmarked at the back post against Granada but earlier in the campaign, he was more challenged by opposition defenders,
Here, against Levante, he was battling with another player but his huge jumping reach meant he could get quite literally head and shoulders above his opponent and head in from close range.
Not two weeks earlier, he was in the goals again as he opted to stand further out of the melee in the area at home to Osasuna.
Being on the edge of the area, no one properly marked him and he was able to get a run on everyone in the area and score a hugely powerful header to put his side in front.
You can never underestimate how handy goal-scoring defenders can be to a team and it is often the saviour of a team if the strikers are having an off-day which is something Gerrard now has at his disposal at Aston Villa.
In other Aston Villa news, one of our coaches has left the club to pursue his own managerial career in the Football League.