Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s Villa Loan Announced
Aston Villa have added competition at right-back, confirming a season-long loan for Aaron Wan-Bissaka from West Ham, with a conditional route to a permanent deal built into the terms. The 28-year-old was part of DR Congo’s squad at this summer’s World Cup, and arrives with genuine pedigree: five seasons in Manchester United’s first team, an FA Cup and an EFL Cup won along the way, close to 200 appearances in total, before two years at West Ham after a £15m transfer.
“The ambition attracted me,” Wan-Bissaka told VillaTV after putting pen to paper. “You know the direction the club is going in, and obviously the opportunity to play at this level. His [Unai Emery’s] aim for the season and what he’s done over the last few years for the club, that’s been motivating.”
It gives Villa something they haven’t really had: proper competition on the right. Matty Cash has barely had to look over his shoulder in recent seasons, while left-back has been contested every year, Digne and now Ruggeri and Maatsen all fighting for the same shirt.
Wan-Bissaka probably doesn’t unseat Cash on day one, but he’s a defender with a Premier League pedigree pushing him for it, not a squad player making up the numbers.
For a full-back position that’s gone unchallenged for too long, that alone is worth the loan fee. It also means genuine rotation options for a squad during a Champions League campaign on top of the Premier League this season, rather than Emery having to run Cash into the ground across both.
Nedeljković Loan
In a separate move, Kosta Nedeljković has left Villa Park this week on a season-long loan of his own, joining Rangers in Glasgow. It’s his latest year-long loan away from the club, following time at RB Leipzig, and continues a pattern that’s become familiar with him: the raw pace has never been in question, shown repeatedly again in pre-season, but there seems to be a doubt in Emery’s mind that the player reads the game well enough for a match day squad spot. He still has his place in Villa’s history regardless: his debut made him the 1,000th player to represent the club.
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