Name: Mungo Bridge

Club: Aston Villa

Date of Birth: 12 September 2000

Position: Centre-back/Full-back

Mungo Bridge - his career so far

At the age of 19, Mungo Bridge is slowly but surely getting ready to make a potential step up into the senior world of Aston Villa’s football over in England. The talented centre-back has penned his first professional contract with the Villains in 2019 as the club managed to fend off the interest from abroad and some big European names.

The kid with the dreadlocks has, however, been a huge part of both their U18 and U23 squads, even captaining the latter one despite his struggles to stay fit throughout the campaign.

Bridge can boast with 24 appearances for the youngster squad and with 16 for the older team. Naturally, since he’s a centre-back by trade, he is yet to tally a single goal or assist for the club but that is also not expected from him in the first place.

Given Aston Villa’s defensive troubles throughout the campaigns, the 19-year-old centre-back could very well get his opportunity sooner rather than later. He’s been already seen training with the first squad on numerous occasions despite never actually tallying a first-team appearance (as of yet).

The Daventry-born youngster was interestingly enough put through his paces by John Terry and even reportedly used as a makeshift forward against Tyrone Mings and Bjorn Engels during the team’s final training session, as Dean Smith encouraged the youngster to become acclimatised to the first-team setup just prior to football being put on hold due to the recent outbreak.

And some reports even suggested the 19-year-old was more than just able to hold his own against some of the senior players in the squad, which is definitely a great sign and fantastic Aston Villa news for the fans.

Maybe when football resumes in the near future, we finally get to see Bridge get his Premier League bow.

Transfer latest

The biggest piece of Aston Villa news surrounding Bridge was undoubtedly the little scare they got prior to the youngster actually penning his first professional contract with the club. Back in early 2019, AC Milan were reportedly very interested in the centre-back but he ended up deciding to stay put and develop at Aston Villa.

Since then, there were no concrete transfer rumours on the topic and Bridge seems to be on a steady course towards the first team, having already trained with the seniors on various different occasions, which we’ve pointed out earlier.

The next thing on the agenda, however, would be to tie him down with a new and improved contract so that they can ensure he will not be lured away by other European giants who might come snooping around.

With the exposure he’s getting with the seniors and the sheer talent under his belt, that one would be a given despite the lack of any real transfer rumours surrounding him at the very moment.

Player profile

Bridge has recently become the U23s’ captain and is slowly but surely moving up in the world due to his sheer talent and ability. Even though he’s still just 19 years of age, the classy centre-back is solid defensively but actually stands out for his attacking attributes as well.

In many aspects, you could say that he’s definitely not your everyday traditional defender but fits the mould of the modern centre-back perfectly. Apart from doing his defensive duties quite admirably and having the ability to time his tackles perfectly and win duels, Bridge also has a keen eye for a killer pass.

One of the issues he’s faced throughout his early years have been sloppy mistakes, however, and this is an area that may still need some polishing if he is to step up to the senior team. But the 19-year-old is also quite quick and agile, which gives him an opportunity to rectify his errors and put out the fire before it’s too late.

He might, however, still be a bit too slim for Premier League football and his injury record does show he’s had some fitness issues in the past. But even with that being said, the talent is certainly there and Aston Villa will have to keep their eyes peeled for this youngster.