Aston Villa Seal Signing of Southampton Defender Matt Targett

Matt Targett: Young, Experienced, and a Potential Star

Following a series of negotiations with Saints, Villa finally managed to push a deal over the line last week. According to Adam Leitch from the Daily Echo, Aston Villa will pay Southampton around £16 million for the young left-back. According to the same report, the final fee was double what Villa originally wanted to pay when talks began a few weeks ago.

However, while the fee may be a steep one, Matt Targett does present Aston Villa with a potential star. Struggling to breakthrough as a permanent first-team fixture at Southampton, Targett has shown flashes of brilliance in the past. Despite this, the Southampton Academy product still managed to make 63 appearances for the Saints since his debut back in 2014.

His best season though came during the 2017/18 campaign. Joining Championship side Fulham on-loan during the January transfer window, Targett went on to make an extremely impressive 21 appearances for the London based club. Due to this, Targett has become a favourite of many lower-level Premier League sides during these transfer windows.

Sale Extremely Beneficial for Southampton

Of course though, one of the key talking points about this transfer will be the fee paid by Aston Villa. With Southampton able to raise a reported £16 million in capital, Saints look set to reinvest that money very quickly. Close to a deal for Birmingham City forward Che Adams, Southampton have, according to reports, basically flipped Matt Targett for Adams.

In layman’s terms, Southampton have traded their backup left back for a potential star striker. Depending on how both Adams and Targett progress over the coming years, this may be seen as an amazing piece of business by the constantly under-fire Southampton board.

Of course, this deal could also prove to be extremely beneficial for Aston Villa. Despite his inability to earn consistent first-team minutes at Southampton, Matt Targett is a supreme talent. At only 23-years of age, Targett is only going to improve in the coming years. Given more playing time, Targett could easily become Villa’s first team left back for years to come.

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