Man City legend’s assistant named Villa first-team coach

Aston Villa announced the appointment of Aaron Danks as first-team coach on Wednesday.

Danks arrives in Birmingham having most recently served in a similar role under Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht.

Other stops include stints with The FA in England, where he was an assistant with the under-21 and under-20 national teams. He was a part of the coaching staff that steered England to an Under-20 World Cup title in 2017.

Danks’ appointment comes after the summer departures of Villa assistants John Terry and Richard O’Kelly. Danks joins Craig Shakespeare and newly-appointed Austin MacPhee on Dean Smith’s staff.

Aaron Danks: Accomplished England coach arrives via Man City legend’s Anderlecht

During his time with England, Danks coached the likes of Leicester’s Ademola Lookman, Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and AC Milan’s Fikayo Tomori. Additionally, he’s overseen the development of Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey in the England U-21 set-up.

Danks’s stint with Anderlecht was a short one having only joined the Belgian giants in June. He returns to the West Midlands after stints with local rivals West Brom (2005-2016) and Birmingham City.

The Athletic’s Gregg Evans said of the appointment: “His focus in the past has been on the attacking area, which, as previously reported, was where Villa were looking at.”