Summary Aston Villa were rocked by a torrid injury to Tyrone Mings but could have a replacement in the academy. The player is a fabulous prospect and represents a fine alternative to Clement Lenglet. He's starred for the academy sides in recent years.
Aston Villa enjoyed a busy few months of business throughout the summer transfer window as they bolstered Unai Emery's playing squad with a number of new additions.
Who did Aston Villa sign this summer?
The headline signing for the Villans was the £51.9m capture of France international Moussa Diaby from Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen, which smashed the club's transfer record and showed the ambition of the side this season.
Emery also dipped back to his former club, Villarreal, to secure a £35m swoop to sign Spain international Pau Torres to improve his options at the heart of the defence.
Villa also bolstered their midfield with the arrivals of Youri Tielemans on a free transfer from Leicester City, who were relegated to the Championship, and Nicolo Zaniolo on a season-long loan from Turkish giants Galatasaray.
The Villans were then forced back into the market to sign another central defender as former captain Tyrone Mings suffered a horrible knee injury that is set to keep him out for a significant period of time.
This led to Emery completing a deal to bring in French enforcer Clement Lenglet on a season-long loan from Barcelona as cover for the England international.
However, the Spanish boss could have saved the club millions in loan fees and wages for the ex-Spurs loanee by unleashing academy ace Josh Feeney as Mings' replacement.
Who is Josh Feeney?
The 18-year-old centre-back has been an impressive performer for the academy side in recent seasons and earned himself a call-up to the first-team squad for the recent Europa Conference League qualifiers against Hibernian, although he did not receive any minutes on the pitch in either leg.
Despite only turning 18 in May, the talented youngster has already racked up 43 U21 appearances for Villa as he made his breakthrough at the age of 16 during the 2021/22 campaign, in which he appeared in 16 Premier League 2 matches and scored twice.
Feeney almost bypassed U18 level entirely, with only seven outings in that age group, with this highlighting how highly rated he is within the club. Indeed, the youth coaches clearly believed that the 6 foot 3 titan was good enough to play with and against much older players on a regular basis.
The towering brute's performances have also been recognised by his country as the excellent prospect has been capped 13 times by England's U16, U17, and U18s combined.
He has also captained the U18 team on several occasions, which suggests that the Villa teen is able to offer the leadership qualities that Mings, who was the club's captain prior to John McGinn taking the armband, provided at the heart of the defence.
Feeney's former coach Phil Hulme once claimed that the central defender has the ability to "dominate" opposition players by winning the ball back off an attacker before driving forward to set his team up on the counter in possession, indicating that he is an aggressive player who wants to be on the front foot and would suit a forward-playing side.
His displays for the club in the EFL Trophy have further shown that he has the potential to be a superb first-team player.
The English prodigy made 3.5 tackles/interceptions and seven clearances per game across two appearances in the competition last season, whilst he also won 57% of his ground duels, as per Sofascore.
This came after Feeney averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.00 over two EFL Trophy matches during the 2021/22 campaign with five tackles/interceptions and 2.5 clearances per match alongside a duel success rate of 71%.
These statistics suggest that the potential is there for the teenager to be a solid operator for Emery if given the opportunity to shine in a senior environment, particularly when you compare them to Lenglet's at Tottenham.
How did Clement Lenglet perform last season?
The France international spent the season on loan with Spurs from Barcelona and struggled to deliver consistently impressive performances at the back.
He averaged a dismal Sofascore rating of 6.65 across 26 Premier League appearances and made 2.2 tackles and interceptions and 2.6 clearances per game for his side as a central defender.
That rating would have placed him 19th within the Villa squad last term and among their worst-performing players, illustrating how poorly he performed for then-Antonio Conte's side.
The 28-year-old, who won 54% of his ground duels, also allowed opposition players to go past him far too easily as he was dribbled past 0.7 times per match. To put that into context, Feeney was dribbled past just 0.5 times per outing across his two EFL Trophy seasons.
Therefore, the 18-year-old colossus could offer more to Emery than the Barcelona loanee if his academy form can be translated over to the first team. Indeed, his ability to consistently win possession back for his side and deliver a higher average performance level to go along with his superior strength in physical contests bodes extremely well.
Feeney's EFL Trophy form also stacks up well against Mings' Premier League displays last term.
The former Bournemouth star averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.91 and made 1.9 tackles and interceptions and 4.5 clearances per clash, whilst he also won 51% of his battles on the deck.
This suggests that the England U18 international, who has often been deployed as a left-sided centre-back in spite of being right-footed, could step up to be an excellent stand-in for his compatriot.
Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos, and Pau Torres appear to be Emery's first choices for the central defensive positions as it stands, meaning that Mings' replacement is not needed as a regular first-team starter, so bringing an academy prospect up could have been an ideal solution.
Instead of spending money on Lenglet for a season, the head coach could have offered a chance to Feeney be around the senior group week-in-week-out, which could also have aided his development by learning from the likes of Torres and Carlos.
Therefore, the signing of the Barcelona flop could end up being a mistake by the club, particularly if he replicates the poor performances he showed during his time with Spurs.