Cordoba defender Jose Angel Crespo became Aston Villa’s fourth defensive recruit of the summer, after arriving earlier today for a reported fee of just £500,000. The 28-year-old follows Mark Bunn, Micah Richards and Jordan Amavi to the Midlands as Tim Sherwood continues to restructure his first-team squad.
Discussing the move with the club’s official website, Sherwood revealed he’s a long-term admirer of the new recruit:
“Jose is a player who has been on our radar for some time and we’re really pleased to secure his signature. He is an experienced player who has played in La Liga and Serie A, two of the strongest leagues in Europe, and from speaking to him I know he can’t wait to play for Aston Villa.”
The History
Born in Andalusia, Crespo worked his way up the youth ranks at Sevilla after joining them as a 15-year-old. After two years of training at their academy, he made his senior debut for Los Rojiblancos midway through the 2005/06 La Liga campaign. Crespo managed a further two league starts that term, spending the remainder of his time turning out for their reserve outfit.
Crespo earned just 23 first-team appearances at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán over the next three seasons while tallying three goals in 73 outings for the B team. In pursuit of a regular starting berth, the Spain U21 international then made the switch to Racing Santander for the 2009/10 campaign. Unfavoured during his stint with the Cantabria club, Crespo notched just 13 appearances over the course of the season.
Having been released by Sevilla in the summer of 2010, the Spaniard plotted a route to Serie B side Padova, where he chalked up one goal in 43 appearances. He then transferred to Serie A outfit Bologna the following summer, recording just seven appearances (three starts) during his debut campaign with the Red-Blues.
Crespo dropped down to Serie B for the 2012/13 season, carding 14 appearances in a year-long loan spell at Verona. With a return to Bologna harvesting only 10 appearances throughout the 2013/14 campaign, Crespo went out on loan to Cordoba last summer. Despite failing to register a single goal or assist across 27 appearances, Crespo signed a permanent deal with the Spanish club earlier this month before making his move to Villa.
At international level, he made a total of 15 appearances for the Spanish U19, U20 and U21 sides but has never been selected for senior duties.
The Prospects
The versatile Crespo offers Sherwood an option right across the back-four slots. Last season at Cordoba, he started 26 times – 14 as a centre-half, nine at left-back and three of the right of defence – whilst in his final year with Bologna, he primarily lined up on the right of midfield.
Whether he can do enough to justify a starting berth is another matter entirely. Crespo averaged less than 15 appearances per season over the past four years, with his most recent stint at Cordoba marking just the second time in his career that he’s been afforded a prolonged run of starts. Having accrued just 83 outings in the top tier of Spanish and Italian football, he may well prove no more than back-up in a defence that was hit hard by injuries in 2014/15.
Certainly, new boy Jordan Amavi looks nailed-on at left-back, given the significant outlay, and with Micah Richards and Ciaran Clark currently shaping up to be the Villains’ favoured centre-back partnership, one would imagine that Crespo needs to displace Alan Hutton at right-back to earn a spot in Tim Sherwood’s starting XI. Given that Leandro Bacuna also offers an option for that position, it looks by no mean certain that Crespo will find his way into the starting XI.
In terms of fixtures, Sherwood’s side have a decent start, with showdowns against Bournemouth, Palace, Sunderland, Leicester and West Brom in the first six. The fact that Villa conceded 57 times last term – the third worst defence in the top-flight – suggests investment may be hard to come by for Sherwood’s backline regulars.
Setting you back 4.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), Crespo is identically priced to Richards, though the former City defender looks a far more secure pick if you’re looking at cut-price options.
For those prepared to shell out more, Amavi (5.0) netted four goals last term and crafted more key passes (32) than all but seven Premier League defenders. Bacuna, meanwhile, has been stationed on the right of midfield in pre-season and could offer us an out-of-position option – the Dutchman racked up five assists as a right-back in just 983 minutes at the end of last term and also has a share of set-pieces.
Given that the likes of Southampton’s Cedric Soares and the West Brom defence are also available for 5.0, though, it looks very unlikely that many will be prepared to splash out on a porous backline that has plenty of convincing still to do.
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