With a total of 67 goals conceded throughout 2019/20 in the Premier League, it is becoming painfully obvious that Aston Villa will simply have to improve their defensive record for the upcoming season.

Dean Smith might have managed to evade relegation somehow but without some heavy tweaking and improvements on all fronts, especially at the back, the Villains are bound to struggle once more in 2020/21.

And now, according to a new report from The Telegraph, Smith has identified Atletico Madrid's Kieran Trippier as the solution to their defensive woes.

Needless to say, this would indeed be a shock transfer and one that's likely to be much more difficult to pull off than Villa might expect. Of course, the full-back is a former Tottenham Hotspur man and has also played a role in eliminating Liverpool from the Champions League as he started that incredible 2-3 game at Anfield.

His quality is not in question here but rather the availability and Villa's power to actually lure him out of the Spanish capital and back into English top-flight.

The 29-year-old joined the La Liga titans last year and has been a big part of Diego Simeone's squad since then. Smith wants him either on loan or permanently, whatever is more possible at the moment, and he would effectively serve as competition for Frederic Guilbert and Ahmed Elmohamady.

Despite suffering a niggling injury at the start of his stint in Spain, Trippier has played a total of 33 games across all competitions last season and would be a fairly difficult target to attain.

Verdict

Debating Trippier's quality is not exactly the main question here at all. The full-back has shown to be capable of playing at the highest of levels so it goes without saying that he would indeed be a welcoming reinforcement.

However, is Smith trying to bite off more than he can chew here? Only time will tell but it does seem so at first sight.