Aston Villa reach agreement to sign Ludvig Augustinsson – Fabrizio Romano
Aston Villa have reached an agreement with La Liga side Sevilla for the transfer of defender Ludvig Augustinsson, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The 28-year-old left-back is the latest player to be targeted on Steven Gerrard’s radar as the Villa boss looks to bring in some competition for Lucas Digne after Matt Targett was sold to Newcastle United.
The deal will be an initial loan for the 2022-23 season but there is an option to make that move permanent included in the agreement.
The Villans are yet to agree personal terms with the Swedish international but things are progressing which should make him available for the first game of the season should he choose to sign.
Digne has been Gerrard’s preferred choice ever since the former England captain signed him from Everton during the January transfer window to replace Targett as the first choice.
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When you play as many games as Premier League sides do nowadays, you need to have players who are just as capable as each other in every position because the potential for injuries is extremely high.
Digne has been relatively injury-free ever since his arrival in the Midlands but we can’t guarantee that it will always be the case and our other options are very limited in the left-back area.
We could get away with utilising someone like Tyrone Mings as a makeshift full-back for a game or two but that is not a feasible long-term solution so Augustinsson is a necessary purchase.
It would have been better to have this deal be permanent straight away rather than a one-year loan to begin with but we could be doing this to make room in the budget for further signings.
We can only spend a certain amount of money relative to our income due to financial fair play rules so a loan that becomes a purchase is a sneaky but effective way of delaying the big expenditure.
In other Aston Villa news, a brand new striker has been announced but we might not see him in the senior side for a number of years.