Brian Madjo plan in place at Aston Villa as training footage emerges from Bodymoor Heath
Aston Villa January signing Brian Madjo has been spotted in training.
Madjo signed for Villa from Metz for £10.4million, in a deal that broke the Premier League transfer record for a 16-year-old.
The striker has come in to follow Alysson to Villa after his move from Gremio, with both destined for a bright future in the Midlands.
Roberto Olabe moved to sign Madjo as his approach at Villa Park becomes clear after his introduction to Unai Emery’s side in September.
There is plenty of intrigue surrounding Madjo and his place in the Villans’ hierarchy, with a plan seemingly already in place at Bodymoor Heath.
Brian Madjo in under-21s training at Aston Villa
There was hope that Conor Gallagher would join Madjo at Villa, but that wasn’t to be as the midfielder opted to join Tottenham.
The disappointment of that deal shouldn’t take away from the excitement surrounding the England under-17 international.
The teenager has already made five Ligue 1 appearances at such a young age, something which is far from common at the top level.
That clearly sparked interest from Olabe and Co., who have swooped to bring him in and throw him in at a youth level to begin with.
An image was shared by TJ Carroll via his Instagram story on Thursday, featuring Madjo as part of the winning team of a training match.
It looks as if Villa will initially utilise the former Luxembourg youth international in the academy before introducing him into the first team.
The forward could feature for the U21s on Friday when their Premier League 2 campaign continues against Derby County.
A positive performance against the Rams could prove to be an instant catalyst to propel Madjo towards Emery’s first team.
Is Brian Madjo first-team ready for Aston Villa?
There are high expectations for the youngster signed from Metz, but many wonder when he could feature for the senior side.
Now that Donyell Malen has joined Roma, there could be a gap in the squad to challenge Ollie Watkins and potentially Tammy Abraham in the first team.
The teen forward has a limited sample size at the top-level, but did play 80 minutes against Lyon back in August and put up some encouraging numbers.
Madjo racked up two shots and was unfortunate not to score with his 0.93 expected goals on target up against Remy Descamps in the opposition’s goal.
He also won one duel and was fouled once, numbers which are positive at such a young age, but will surely increase over time working with Emery.
A spell in the under-21s could be just what he needs to find his feet in English football, even after scoring 13 in 27 games for Metz u19s.
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