On Monday, Aston Villa confirmed the signing of Ludwig Augustinsson on a season-long loan deal. He’s Steven Gerrard’s fifth acquisition of the summer after Philippe Coutinho (£18m from Barcelona), Boubacar Kamara (free transfer from Olympique Marseille), Robin Olsen (£3.15m from AS Roma), Diego Carlos (£28m from Sevilla).
The 28-year-old is a left-back who’s made 27 appearances in all competitions for Sevilla, having joined the Spanish outfit from Werder Bremen just a year earlier, but was he such a necessary signing? Villa confirmed only one week before Augustinsson’s arrival that Ashley Young extended his stay at the Midlands, so why has Gerrard signed another left-back?
Young is 37 years of age but made 24 Premier League appearances last season while operating in a variety of positions – left-wing-back, left-back, centre-midfield, right-back, attacking-midfield, left-wing and right-wing. He’s more than useful to Gerrard, so who gets the nod in Lucas Digne’s absence?
The deal for Augustinsson has come 12 months early as Young will be out of contract in 2023 when the former’s loan deal is up. Gerrard does have the option to sign Augustinsson permanently, but he may not trigger that option if the Swedish international doesn’t feature much next season.
In other news, Steven Gerrard won’t be ruthless to Danny Ings without replacement
