Aston Villa are reportedly interested in Toulouse youngster Jaydee Canvot, but it remains to be seen if we’re willing to meet his touted valuation.
The 18-year-old has come through the youth ranks with the Ligue 1 outfit and has since gone on to make 20 appearances at senior level as he made his breakthrough last season and impressed.
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Further, he has been capped eight times at U19s level for France, and so it certainly seems as though he has a bright future ahead of him for club and country.
According to L’Equipe, he has attracted interest from Villa who have been alerted by his talent and potential, with our scouts said to have been in attendance at the recent Maurice-Revello tournament where Canvot caught the eye with his performances and we’re even said to be ‘the best placed to recruit him’.
Aside from his technical and defensive qualities, he boasts versatility to be able to play as a defender or a defensive midfielder, and so it’s certainly an intriguing potential signing to give us a long-term option in those departments.
That said, with a contract that runs until June 2029, it’s suggested that it would take a bid of at least €20m to prise him away from Toulouse, and so it remains to be seen whether or not Villa are convinced to the point that they are willing to part with such a significant fee for a player who still has much to prove at the highest level, or if it’s enough to deter us and switch our focus elsewhere to more attainable targets.
It undoubtedly fits our expected transfer strategy moving forward though, as although we have reportedly addressed our PSR concerns, Villa must still reduce our wage bill to ensure that we comply with UEFA’s SCR rules.
In turn, that means trimming the squad of fringe players on big contracts and perhaps even some key individuals, and the obvious solution to then keep the wage bill down from that point onwards is to sign younger players who don’t yet command the top-level salaries.
This promises to be a fascinating pursuit to monitor in the coming weeks, as although Unai Emery has a number of excellent options in the defensive midfield roles in particular already, we do need depth and competition for places at the back, and Canvot could seemingly emerge as a preferred solution for the Villa boss.
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