Aston Villa are interested in a deal to bring David Martinez to Villa Park in the January transfer window.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by Argentine media outlet Ole (via Birmingham Live), who claim that, following Steven Gerrard's arrival at the club, Aston Villa have now joined the race for the Defensa y Justicia centre-back, who is currently on loan at River Plate.

The report goes on to state that a number of other European sides, including the likes of Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan, are also monitoring the 23-year-old, while River Plate are themselves thought to be attempting to purchase 50% of the defender's rights from his parent club.

Martinez could solve Villa's biggest problem

With the excitement that surrounded Steven Gerrard's recent arrival at Villa Park, it is easy to forget that, after 11 games of the 2020/21 campaign, the Lions find themselves languishing down in 16th place in the Premier League standings, just two points above Burnley in 18th.

Indeed, Villa have already conceded a whopping 20 goals in the league this season, with only 20th placed Norwich City and 19th placed Newcastle United having shipped more than Gerrard's new side.

As such, defensive reinforcements are likely to be high on the 41-year-old's list of priorities during the January transfer window, and, considering his impressive form in Argentina so far this season, the signing of Martinez could well prove to solve what is undoubtedly Villa's biggest problem at present.

Indeed, over his 12 Liga Profesional appearances this term, the £5.85m-rated centre-back has helped his side keep seven clean sheets, as well as making an average of 1.5 interceptions, 1.4 tackles, 3.6 clearances and winning 4.8 duels per game.

These returns have seen the Paraguay international average a SofaScore match rating of 7.19, ranking him as River Plate's sixth-best performer in the top flight of Argentinian football.

As such, it is no surprise that The Athletic's Alex Stewart stated his belief that the 23-year-old would make an excellent signing for Tottenham Hotspur on an episode of the TIFO Football Podcast, with the journalist claiming:

"I think Argentine defenders - sometimes they've got just that kind of gnarliness. They're a bit unpleasant. There’s a ruggedness there, which I think Spurs would benefit from that at the back. Martinez has got all of that. He looks to be a very, very complete defensive player. He's very interesting."

So, considering his impressive returns for River Plate, Aston Villa's clear need of defensive reinforcements and it being reported that Martinez would be available for a very affordable £5m in January, it would indeed seem highly advisable for Johan Lange to do all he can to land the centre-back this winter.

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