NMA EPL Transfer Spotlight: Aston Villa’s Diego Carlos

We continue our Transfer Spotlight series with yet another Aston Villa transfer! It’s turning out to be an unusually productive window so far for the West Midlands, with new boy Diego Carlos one of four signings. Villa has made a real statement and is determined to finish higher than last season’s 14th place. Manager Steven Gerrard joined in November last year after a rocky time under predecessor Dean Smith. Villa has struggled for consistency but has top half ambition to move into the push for European football in the new season. Signings like this will certainly will help — Diego Costa’s arrival from Sevilla brings a wealth of experience in a key area of the pitch.

Background

Diego Carlos is an experienced 29 year old central defender who has signed a four-year deal (undisclosed, but expected to be up to £30mil). He joins after a successful three-year spell in Spain with Sevilla, being a key member who helped the side achieve a Europa League win in 2019-20 season. This past season, Sevilla finished 4th in La Liga behind Real Madrid (champions), Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Before his time at Sevilla, Carlos featured actively in three seasons for Nantes in Ligue 1 before forging his career in Portugal with Estoril and the Porto B side.

Carlos is an aggressive and tough-tackling centre-half. He is a proven player in Europe who enjoys getting stuck to the backs of attackers. At age 29, he carries the right level of experience to succeed and is very much in his prime. Sevilla relied on him to play the ball out from the back. He boasts strong pass completion, which will be vital in the Premier League.

Fantasy Prospects

The key question before we look at fantasy prospects is whether the new player will become a GW-1 starter or take a little bit longer to fit in. With his experience and the fact he’s been a key player in a side with real European pedigree, one would expect him to be brought in as a starter from the off, so it shouldn’t take him too long to settle.

Villa has been inconsistent at the back in recent times, so Carlos will bring them a new level of security, which should make him the 1st choice center-back. Young English center-back Konsa is out injured, so Carlos should be able to slot straight into the side.

Carlos typically plays as a left-side center-back, which is the same as captain Tyrone Mings, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens here. There is talk of Mings being a target for Newcastle, but former Villan Gabby Agbonlahor feels confident that Steven Gerrard plans to partner Mings and Carlos in the center of his defense.

Carlos’ goal scoring is pretty average for someone in his position, even though he is a menace. He averages around 2-3 goals per season, so he’ll chip in, but it’s not a main attraction for him. What is impressive is that Sevilla conceded the fewest goals in La Liga last term, so Carlos’ clear purpose is to solidify Aston Villa’s defense, which should translate into more clean-sheet points for all defensive Villans in all fantasy formats. For all the goals Villa conceded in 2021-22, they did rack up the 7th most clean-sheets. The recent addition of holding midfielder Boubacar Kamara to the squad should shore up the Villans’ defense even further.

In FPL I expect Carlos to be priced at £5mil, in line with other starting central defenders of his potential. This is quite a big price point, so I wouldn’t say Carlos is really an essential asset, but it’ll be interesting to see how the side shapes up with him in it. You are better looking at the full-backs who offer better attacking returns. If he was £4.5mil he would be in much more contention. In Fantrax, there will be better assets at the baseline price.

What are your thoughts on Aston Villa’s new boy? Will he be a success in the Premier League? Would you consider him in your Fantasy team? Please let us know in the comments below!

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