Why Aston Villa should hand a new deal to Tommy Elphick
Aston Villa recalled Tommy Elphick late in December, halfway through his loan spell at Hull City, where the centre-back did a fantastic job. They actually signed him from Bournemouth in 2016 for £3m but the Englishman wasn’t a regular in the first-team.
But, since his recall, the 31-year-old has been the main player at the heart of the Villa defence. Moreover, the good impression he created at the KCOM stadium in the first part of this season, is coming to fruition at Villa Park since the turn of the year.
However, Elphick’s contract expires at the end of the season, and the damning thing is there has no agreement on an extension yet. While the player is still concentrated on the team and aiming to finish the season well, the club needs to act as quickly as they can. Here’s why they should offer the defender a new contract before he becomes a free agent.
Elphick would help Villa at the back
Truth be told, Aston Villa’s chances of getting promoted to the Premier League is looking bleak this season. They are currently eight points adrift of the playoff places with 12 games to go. While Dean Smith’s men have been decent going forward, they are a mess at the back. They have conceded 53 goals so far in 34 league games – only three teams have shipped in more than them.
This shows that the team needs to do a lot of work before they get closer to the levels of playing top-flight football. In the defensive department, Villa have Axel Tuanzebe, James Chester, Tyrone Mings, Tommy Elphick and Kortney Hause as the options for the centre-back position.
But, three of those five players (Tuanzebe, Mings and Hause) are on loan from different Premier League clubs and would return in the summer. Chester was a regular in the first half of this season, however, injury has derailed his campaign.
So, we are left with Elphick, who has done well – both for Hull and now for Aston Villa, but his contract expires. Hence, it is crystal clear that the club must act quick and offer a new deal to one of the regular centre-backs and build a defence around him ahead of the start of next season.
