Aston Villa’s signing of Alexander-Arnold clone confirmed by Romano

Robin Bairner

• 15 Jan 2024 10:35 GMT
• 5 min read

Aston Villa will make Kosta Nedeljkovic their first signing of the January transfer window, football transfer news expert Fabrizio Romano has confirmed.

The Premier League title chasers find themselves third in the standings, just two points behind Liverpool having played a game more, but Unai Emery’s squad has not been strengthened this month.

Nedeljkovic is close to moving to the club from Serbian side Crvena Zvezda, with Romano declaring that the move will cost the Premier League outfit under €9 million.

Taking to X, he states: “Aston Villa are closing in on deal to sign 2005 born right back Kosta Nedeljkovic from Crvena Zvezda! He’s set to stay at Serbian club until end of the season.

“Talks at final stages for less than €9m.

“Villa have been scouting Kosta for a long time.”

The next Alexander-Arnold?

Nedeljkovic who plays the right-back role in a very similar manner to Liverpool superstar Trent Alexander-Arnold, according to data analytics experts SciSports.

The 18-year-old is an attack-minded player from deep and constantly likes to test the opposition.

He has performed especially well this season in terms of his crossing and ball retention in the Serbian Super Liga, picking up one assist in 12 games.

Nedeljkovic is unlikely to play a prominent role in Emery’s first-team pool even after he arrives in the summer. He has only played 18 senior matches for Red Star, and while four of these have come in the Champions League, where he has turned out against RB Leipzig and Manchester City, he is still extremely inexperienced when it comes to senior football.

Nonetheless, he is a player who has shown rapid development over the course of the season to date, with his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) having risen as high as €3.2m last month.

Aston Villa are set to pay more than that, but if he continues to learn rapidly, the transfer fee could still look a bargain in years to come.