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Aston Villa linked to 19-year old Barcelona defender

By Phil Newman

BARCELONA, SPAIN - APRIL 07: A Barcelona jacket hangs from a bunk bed inside one of the bedrooms of the youth players inside La Masia at the Camp Nou stadium on April 7, 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. La Masia is the heart of the Barcelona's youth system and a residence for young players that had to leave their home behind to train at FC Barcelona in both a sporting and intelectual way. Coach Josep Guardiola and players such as Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol and Andres Iniesta have lived at La Masia to become the stars of today's game. Because of the succes the name La Masia is now simply used to refer to the Barcelona youth players. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - APRIL 07: A Barcelona jacket hangs from a bunk bed inside one of the bedrooms of the youth players inside La Masia at the Camp Nou stadium on April 7, 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. La Masia is the heart of the Barcelona's youth system and a residence for young players that had to leave their home behind to train at FC Barcelona in both a sporting and intelectual way. Coach Josep Guardiola and players such as Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol and Andres Iniesta have lived at La Masia to become the stars of today's game. Because of the succes the name La Masia is now simply used to refer to the Barcelona youth players. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images) /
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Aston Villa look set for a return to La Masia Academy. After signing Adama Traoré two summers ago with mixed returns, the claret and blue is closing on yet another Barcelona youngster. This time, 19-year old central defender Eric Montes is reportedly close.

When Adama Traoré signed two summer ago for a fee in the region of £7 million, many Aston Villa supporters reckoned he would light up the Premier League instantly. That didn’t come to fruition through fitness and injury troubles, but Adama impressed enough for a second Premier League move – to Middlesbrough.

A report from the Spanish newspaper, Sport, was carried to England. Aston Villa is close to signing Barcelona central defender, Eric Montes.

So, who is Eric Montes? He turned 19 in April and stands at 6’2″. He has experience playing both center back and right back during his time in La Masia.

Montes is a regular with Barcelona U19s in the UEFA Youth League. He amassed over 1,000 minutes of match time. One reason for his moving on is the absence of a contract. Montes and Barcelona mutually agreed to part ways.

While it’s not strange for clubs to part with youth players – Aston Villa cut ten just last week; it is strange for Barcelona to not offer their youth team captain a deal to his liking. Though, one should surmise Barcelona are simply too talented to bring-up anything less than the best prospects to the senior team.

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Montes is certainly another promising youth signing. Much like Jacob Bedeau, this doesn’t mean he’ll make a first team impression in 2017, but center back is a position that’s lacking senior depth.

With the aforementioned Bedeau, Montes, Easah Suliman, and Kevin Toner, Aston Villa has quite the collection of promising under-21 center backs.

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