Dan Bardell exclusive: Jan Bednarek best centre-back option for Aston Villa in the circumstances
We’re delighted to welcome The Athletic’s Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Aston Villa securing a loan deal for Jan Bednarek on transfer deadline day was about as good a deal they could have hoped for in the circumstances, according to Dan Bardell.
The defensive plans were thrown into disarray when headline summer signing Diego Carlos was ruled out long-term with a major achilles injury in just his second appearance for the club, forcing the Lions to scramble to find a replacement late in the window with Kortney Hause already due for a loan move to Watford.
The 26-year-old Pole is not of the level of the Brazilian but knows the league well having made well over 100 appearances in the English top flight for Southampton, and Bardell feels that he ticks the boxes required for a late replacement and with no obligation to buy there is not a huge amount of risk to the deal.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News he said of whether Bednarek is the right man: “Time will tell. Southampton fans don’t seem massively disappointed that he’s left, although there is a recognition from them that he probably could have done with a change of scenery, which is obviously what has happened.
“The Villa defence has been off form lately. My opinion has been that Ezri Konsa needs taking out for his own good, I think he’s just been so far off form, and trying to play him into form hasn’t really been working.
“They needed to get a centre-back in because of what happened with the Diego Carlos injury. The timing of the injury meant they had to move quickly and get someone in who’d got a bit of Premier League experience, just to stabilise the team because we’ve got off to such a bad start.
“He’s a Polish international so he’ll play right centre-back and he’ll have a relationship with [Matty] Cash at right-back, which is a good thing.
“He’s a very self-critical player from what I’ve read in that he analyses his own game very strongly and spends a lot of time looking at himself.
“Sometimes players need fresh scenery and I think Bednarek getting that means it’s a good move for him. Whether it means he’ll turn out to be better than Konsa or [Calum] Chambers I don’t know.
“But we definitely needed to sign someone, and with the duration that was left of the window I think that is probably as good a signing as we could ask for, and he’s only on loan as well so Villa don’t have to make it permanent at the end of the season.
“We just needed someone and I think he’s quite a physical player, good in the air, he’ll put his body on the line, and at the moment with the kind of situation that Villa are in that’s the kind of player that they need, so I’m happy with that signing.”
An improved all round display to secure a surprise point against reigning champions Manchester City saw the centre-back pairing of Konsa and Mings hold Erland Haaland to just one goal, with the Norwegian coming into the game with back-to-back hat-tricks.
That could inspire some renewed confidence in the back-line and improved form, as should the display of 37-year-old Ashley Young who rolled back the years in replacement of Cash at right-back after he was forced off with injury.
If the defence can recreate that sort of fight in a few more performances then Bednarek might not be seeing too much action any time soon, but Aston Villa fans will certainly not be complaining.
In other Aston Villa news, Dermot Gallagher blamed the assistant for Philippe Coutinho’s strike against Manchester City being ruled out by an early whistle.