Aston Villa are reportedly in the hunt to sign Inter Milan defender Stefan de Vrij this summer with manager Steven Gerrard keen to improve his defensive options.

What’s the story?

According to Football Insider, Villa are keeping tabs on the Dutch defender with Gerrard looking to sign an A-list centre-back this summer.

The report also states that the defender was valued at around £40m in January with the 30-year-old’s current deal at the San Siro expiring in 2023.

The West Midland club’s Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur are also reportedly interested in bringing de Vrij to England this summer with manager Antonio Conte in charge when Inter won the Serie A title last season, with the Dutchman a key contributor to their success.

In fact, the Italian coach once exclaimed that the defender was “like Bonucci.”

Aston Villa must swoop for de Vrij

Valued at £31.5m by Transfermarkt despite having just over a year left on his contract, de Vrij certainly won’t come cheap for whoever lands the defender’s signature.

However, it’s no secret that Aston Villa have ambitious plans for the upcoming transfer window, particularly after being able to lure a player of Philippe Coutinho’s pedigree to Villa Park in January, albeit on loan.

The Villans are on course for their first top-half finish in the top-flight for 11 years which will lay decent foundations for Gerrard after the Englishman’s first season in charge of the West Midlands side, having joined from Rangers in November.

Naturally, the next step will be to consolidate that place and push for European qualification. The signing of de Vrij would undoubtedly be a serious statement of intent.

The 30-year-old defender has spent almost eight years in Italy having joined Lazio from Feyenoord in 2014, where he was dubbed a “monster” by teammate Mauricio, before making the move to Inter Milan in 2018 on a free transfer.

Although, this isn’t the first time a Premier League club has been linked with a swoop for the 55-cap Netherlands international.

As well as his impressive international experience, de Vrij boasts impressive experience at club level too, winning the Scudetto last season whilst racking up 46 appearances in European competition as well as 347 in top-flight league football across the Eredivisie and Serie A.

Compared to Aston Villa’s current centre-backs, the 30-year-old is a major step up in quality and calibre.

Although Tyrone Mings has established himself as a regular in England manager Gareth Southgate’s squads, the 29-year-old has only found regular game time in the Premier League whilst being at Villa during the past three seasons.

As for the likes of Ezri Konsa, Calum Chambers and Kourtney Hause, none are current internationals whilst Chambers’ experience of playing in Europe and winning the FA Cup and Community Shield is as experienced as any of Villa’s current defenders get.

Moreover, according to SofaScore, De Vrij wins the majority of both his aerial and ground duels, has a 92% pass completion rate, only loses the ball 4.8 times per match whilst having 62.5 touches on average per Serie A game, also making at least one tackle and interception per game.

Contrastingly, Aston Villa’s best defender statistically, Tyrone Mings, averages 58.5 touches per league game whilst completing 80% of his passes, losing possession 10.4 times per game on average.

The Englishman does manage to make at least one interception per game but is currently averaging 0.6 tackles.

It’s clearly evident that the signing of de Vrij would seriously improve Gerrard’s squad, the main issue will be convincing the Dutchman to swap the San Siro for Villa Park.

In other news: Imagine him & Coutinho: Gerrard must now unleash Villa maestro who “can do anything”