Endrick linked to Aston Villa, again

Endrick is being linked with Aston Villa again ahead of January and this is an interesting one because we know there was interest in him during the summer. I don't know how far that ever got and ultimately it was decided that he was staying at Real Madrid anyway, but his name has started to come up again over the last few days and I can certainly see why Villa would continue to look at him.

I've seen the links in a couple of places and I'm not going to pretend I know anything about Villa's January plans at this stage because I don't. I suspect over the next month or so we'll start to hear a little bit more about what Villa might want to do when the window opens, but there is still so much football to be played between now and then that the situation could look completely different by the time we get there.

I think where Villa are in the Champions League could be particularly important because we've seen this before. I think one of the reasons Villa were able to bring in players like Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford was because they had reached the latter stages of the competition and suddenly it was a really attractive move for those players. They weren't just coming to play Premier League football for Aston Villa, they were joining a team that had big Champions League games ahead of them as well.

When January arrives we'll have a much better idea of what this season actually looks like. We'll know where Villa stand in Europe, we'll have a much clearer picture of what they're capable of doing in the Premier League and we'll know what other competitions are still realistically there for them. All of that will surely play into what Villa decide to do and also the type of player they're capable of attracting.

Endrick is obviously a player with a huge reputation already and I think he'd be exactly the type of footballer Emery would be excited about working with. We know Emery likes developing young players, but I also think he particularly enjoys working with top players who are known at that world level. Rashford was one, Asensio was another and Endrick, despite still being very young, already falls into that category because of what he did in Brazil and the profile he has at Real Madrid.

You can imagine Emery looking at a player with that level of ability and believing he could get something out of him, particularly if Endrick gets to January needing more football. Villa have obviously looked at him before as well, so if the circumstances have changed at Real Madrid and there is suddenly an opportunity to do something on loan, it makes sense that Villa would be mentioned again.

The crucial thing for me, though, is that for Villa to bring in a player like Endrick, somebody has to move out. You can probably do the maths on who that would be and I think Tammy Abraham's situation would have to change for there to be any realistic possibility of Endrick coming in.

That's just the reality of where Villa are with the squad. You can't keep adding forwards and expecting everybody to get the football they need, and Endrick certainly wouldn't be coming to Villa to sit around and barely play. If Villa were genuinely looking at doing something there, I would think Tammy would have to leave, whether that's on loan or on a permanent basis.

The other question I'd have is what it would mean for Brian Madjo because Villa have got a really exciting young striker of their own who needs opportunities. If Endrick comes in, does that stunt Madjo a little bit? Does it make his route to minutes more difficult at exactly the point where we want to start seeing more of him? I think that's a fair question to ask.

Equally, we know Emery likes working with top players and Endrick is the sort of talent I think he'd look at and really fancy working with. If Real Madrid made him available and Villa felt there was an opportunity to bring in a player of that quality for the second half of the season, I don't think Madjo's presence alone would necessarily stop them doing it. Emery will always want to improve his squad if he thinks the right player is available.

There are quite a few moving parts, then, and that's why I'm not getting carried away with the links at this point. We don't know what Villa's January plans are, we don't know exactly what Real Madrid will want to do with Endrick and we don't know what the second half of Villa's season is going to look like yet.

But the previous interest is there, which makes this more interesting than a completely random January transfer link. If Endrick is available, Villa are still competing at the right end of the Champions League and there is movement elsewhere in the squad, I can absolutely see why they would look at it again.

For now it's one to keep an eye on, and I think we'll probably start to get a much clearer idea of Villa's January plans over the next month or so. If Endrick is still being mentioned when we get closer to the window, that's when it will become particularly interesting.