Aston Villa are interested in bringing Wolfburg's 22-year-old centre-back Maxence Lacroix to Villa Park this summer.

What's the word?

That is according to a report from Jeunes Footeux, who name Villa amongst the likes of West Ham and Newcastle United, as teams who are interested in signing the young Bundesliga starlet.

The Frenchman's contract was due to expire in 2024, until Wolfsburg seized a one-year extension that includes a release clause of £34m - with this fee set to become active this summer.

Konsa upgrade

As a right-footed centre-back in a back-four, Lacroix is a perfect fit for Aston Villa. Though the acquisition of the starlet would cause upset for Ezri Konsa, who currently occupies the position of right centre-back for Gerrard's side.

To be frank, even though Konsa has had another solid campaign in England's top-flight, having started 81% of Villa's games this season, Lacroix would present a statistical upgrade in this position.

Lacroix, who has been dubbed "exciting" by Statman Dave, registers around 2.16 tackles per 90, with an average of 4.15 interceptions and 7.32 pressures in the defensive third.

Meanwhile, Konsa's metrics falter having registered 0.98 tackles per 90, with an average of 1.63 interceptions and 3.73 pressures in the defensive third.

It's also the same case in possession, with Lacroix's 68.23 touches and 40.29 touches in the defensive third much better than Konsa's match average of 43.36 touches and 25.10 touches in the defensive third.

Combined with his average of 7.73 passes under pressure per 90, Lacroix's presence in the Villa backline would bring stability in both phases of the game.

Aston Villa have struggled to break out of the middle third at times this season, which has also seen them lag behind in their attempts to dominate possession, having registered an average of 46.2% this season which makes them the 14th worst side at keeping the ball.

The addition of a centre-back who is entirely composed in possession would inject confidence into the squad, and allow them to build sustained attacks from the backline, with Lacroix's average of 3.03 passes into the final third per 90 also handy in progressing the ball.

In other news: NSWE already set for their 1st big summer disaster at AVFC, supporters surely gutted