Bjorn Engels could be on his way out of Aston Villa as he has been short of game-time under Dean Smith and was linked with a move away before the January transfer window opened.
The 26-year-old is yet to make an appearance this season and finds himself behind Tyrone Mings, Kortney Hause and Ezri Konsa in the pecking order, so Gabriel Agbonlahor believes he should be sold. The former Aston Villa striker told Football Insider:
It’s time for him to move on. The problem with the Premier League now is you have to have pace in defence. Unless you’re an unbelievable defender and you can read the game unbelievably you need to have the pace at the back.
That’s what Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause allow you. If they make a mistake, they’ve got the pace to make up for it. If they’re left one-on-one, they’ve got the pace to stop the attacker.
The problem with Engels is that if he’s left one-on-one he hasn’t got that pace so he’s going to get found out a bit. That’s what it is, it’s one of those things. You’re going to play your quicker defenders in the Premier League. You look at all the top teams, they try and get pace in their backline.
Engels has made 19 appearances in all competitions since joining Villa from Reims in July 2019 but his last outing for the Midlands outfit came in the 4-0 defeat to Leicester City 10 month ago.
Villa have played in 15 Premier League games this season and the uncapped Belgian has been an unused substitute six times and left out of the matchday squad on the other nine occasions – three of which were due to a shin injury (Transfermarkt).
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Engels is surplus to requirements at Villa Park, but Smith may avoid offloading him until the end of the season as he won’t want to leave himself short of options in case of injuries.
It makes little sense to sell a squad player without having a replacement lined up, so Engels’ future may depend on whether Villa have another defender to succeed him.
