Looking back on Bjorn Engels’ Aston Villa career three years after his arrival
Aston Villa signed Bjorn Engels three years ago today with the aim of the Belgian partnering Tyrone Mings in the Premier League.
He arrived with a fair amount of hype, with then-Villa boss Dean Smith telling the club’s website that he had been tracking Engels for over a year.
The powerful centre-back impressed on his debut, despite Villa losing 3-1 to Champions League runners-up Tottenham.
Villa held out until late in the game, with Engels putting in a towering performance and outshining Mings in the heart of the defence.
However, his promising start quickly fizzled out and he quickly became a source of frustration before being dropped to the bench.
What could have been
Engels had a steady season considering Villa’s situation during the 2019/20 season, but he made a series of high-profile errors that caused fans to turn on him.
Most notably, and most frustratingly for Villa fans, was his absolutely calamitous performance at home to Spurs in February 2020.
The defender gave away a penalty and failed to react to the rebound, scored an equaliser and then performed a hilarious air kick to let Heung Min Son in to win Spurs the match at the death.
He also played a major part in Villa’s 4-0 defeat away to Leicester the following month, although Pepe Reina’s failed dash to tackle Harvey Barnes took the headlines.
Engels was swiftly dropped in favour of Ezri Konsa after Project Restart and later picked up a major thigh injury, failing to make another appearance before joining Royal Antwerp.
The Belgian had his share of highlights in a Villa shirt, not least his header in the 2020 Carabao Cup final that Claudio Bravo turned onto the post and still keeps Villa fans up at night to this day.
In truth he was not the worst defender in Villa history, he was no Joleon Lescott, but his time in B6 was defined by a string of high-profile mistakes that left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth.
Perhaps in another time he could have continued his strong early form and cemented his place at the club, but it was not to be.
In other Aston Villa news, the club are set to stick by Danny Ings this season.