With 7 wins in their last 8 outings in the Sky Bet Championship, Aston Villa’s late dash to earn a playoff spot might have come a little too late. After their 1-0 win over Queens Park Rangers in the midweek fixture, the Villans are now as many as 9 points behind the sixth-placed outfit, Sheffield Wednesday.
However, it would be important for them to keep their confidence high and without any shadow of a doubt, Aston Villa need to pull off shrewd deals once the curtains of the summer transfer window get lifted.
One of the most important areas which need ramifications is that of the central defence. Aston Villa have been quite leaky at times and the sporadic form of their defenders have had a massive say in the same.
This season’s resurgence has come much later than when it should have, and the Lions just can’t afford to halt their progress next time around. Bolstering their squad with quality players shall be one of the paramount needs and one of the players who is believed to have come on the radar of Steve Bruce is Chester’s, Sam Hughes.
Despite plying his trade in the top tier of non-league football, Hughes has attracted interest from many Championship as well as Premier League sides. He has emerged from the ranks of the Seals, and although he is just a 19-year-old youngster, he has shown immense calibre of being efficient in the right-back slot, central midfield as well as the central defensive slot.
His marauding performances have been taking the football fraternity by storm and let’s not forget that he has shown a fearless streak which he once again showed by letting fly from 25 yards, with his efforts taking a deflection off the head of Sean McGinty and breezing past Brendan Moore in Chester’s 1-0 win over Torquay United last weekend.
The likes of Jamie Vardy, Charlie Austin and Chris Smalling have all risen to the pedestal of the Premier League from non-league sides which imply that such fairy tales have indeed materialised in the past. Getting someone like Hughes for cheap and then transforming him into a world-class defender under the tutelage of Bruce is a venture worth opting for by Aston Villa.
Moreover, he is young and has years of football left in him which makes the deal an appealing one. Nonetheless, many teams are likely to advocate the desire to sign Hughes and thus, Aston Villa must act fast in the summer to acquire his services.
