Aston Villa Opinion: Why Villa must reignite their interest in Harold Moukoudi

According to last September’s report from Express and Star, Le Havre defender Harold Moukoudi claimed he turned down an offer from Championship club Aston Villa.

After turning down an offer and deciding to stay put at Le Havre, Harold Moukoudi, 21, has enjoyed another stellar season in the Ligue 2. He has been a crucial cog for Le Havre at the back, playing 17 times league games and scoring two goals.

However, the young Frenchman has shown no interest so far in extending his contract at the club which expires at the end of this season. With Moukoudi not featuring for Le Havre since the turn of the year and set to become a free agent in summer, Aston Villa should reignite their interest in the defender.

Aston Villa lie tenth on the table, nine points adrift of a place in the play-offs. The Villans may have played some technical, expansive style of football under Dean Smith but there hasn’t been much change in their fortunes.

It’s getting really tight at the top and Smith’s Aston Villa are struggling to produce positive results to match the attractive style of football. To put things simply, Aston Villa need to offload deadwood from the squad and pump in with young and exciting players. And Smith should start reinforcing his side with the defence, which has leaked a staggering 52 goals.

James Chester hasn’t had the best of seasons in a Villa shirt, while the likes of Tyrone Mings, Kortney Hause and Axel Tuanzebe are on loan until the end of the season. To avoid a potential burnout of options, defensive recruitments will be required and Smith would do a brilliant job if he manages to bring in Moukoudi.

Moukoudi is one of French football’s emerging defensive talents and his performances have already seen him attract a lot of interest from top European clubs. The Frenchman is quite comfortable with the ball at his feet and he doesn’t hesitate to play the ball out from the back.

He is quite fast and agile for a defender of his stature and his game-reading and decision-making simply belie his age. Furthermore, the Le Havre prospect is quite capable of chipping in with goals and assists with inch-perfect long balls from the back.

Verdict

To put things into perspective, Moukoudi has all the raw attributes to flourish in the pacey and physical style of football in England. He is just 21 and has a lot of scope for improvement.

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In all honesty, Aston Villa will have a task cut out to get Moukoudi’s signature in summer due to the interest he has gathered from European clubs.

But that shouldn’t dampen Smith’s pursuit of the French starlet, who has the potential to become a top centre-half in the next few years.