Aston Villa tracking Australia centre-half Trent Sainsbury
By Josh Tonti
Desperate for more center back help, Aston Villa Football Club is tracking Australia’s Trent Sainsbury. The 26-year old currently plays in China for Jiangsu Suning.
Trent Sainsbury, currently featuring for Australia at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, is the next center back linked with a move to Aston Villa. Sainsbury follows Michael Hefele, Gareth McAuley and others as Steve Bruce looks for help after John Terry’s departure.
The defender has been one of Australia’s better performers through two group stage matches. The Socceroos nearly earned a result against France with stout defending, before a draw with Denmark put them with an outside chance of progressing to the knockout stage.
Trent Sainsbury
Age: 26
D.O.B: 5 January 1992
International Caps: 37 (3 goals)
Club: Jiangsu Suning (CHN), spent time on-loan with Grasshopper Zürich (SUI)
Villa Verdict:
Every four years we are treated to breakout performers whose valuations skyrocket over a small sample size of games. Such is the big stage. But in this case, Sainsbury is a lesser-known quantity, perhaps looking towards a move to England, if reports are correct. Given his pedigree, the second division seems a fair step-up in terms of club football. Furthermore, It’s reasonable to expect Sainsbury is entering the prime of his career at 26 years of age.
The defender should have a sizable amount of suitors given his: age, international pedigree, and status as an out-of-contract player. With Mile Jedinak already on-board, perhaps he can convince Sainsbury to move to Birmingham.
We still don’t know what to expect from Dr. Tony Xia this summer (maybe he doesn’t know, either), but expect more news this week.