What a bank holiday Monday for Aston Villa! Well, they now need to focus on bringing in the players to keep them in the Premier League and Kalvin Phillips is the man to do just that.

Football Insider have reported the Villans are looking to raid Leeds for their star defensive midfielder, and it’ll surely be hard for the Whites to keep hold of him. Indeed, the bright lights of the Premier league await, and Villa should use this to their advantage.

There’s a good chance Phillips (an academy graduate in West Yorkshire) would lead Leeds to promotion next season and find himself in the top division without a move, so it’s important Dean Smith capitalises on their position now. Undoubtedly, he’d go some way to keeping them in the Premier League.

The midfielder made 42 appearances in the Championship this season and has juggled defensive responsibility with aiding Marcelo Bielsa’s attacking style well. Clearly, it’s difficult to play in a side who push so high up the pitch but he’s excelled.

That’s prepared him for the onslaught teams like Manchester City and Liverpool will surely provide Villa next season. He’ll have to be ready to firefight against their quick attacks and pass through their intense pressing, but he’d cope with this better than anyone from the Championship this season.

He’s rated at £6.3m on Transfermarkt and Leeds won’t want to let him go that cheap, so Villa will need to dig deep to get their man. However, he could be the difference between relegation and staying up, so it’d be well worth the initial investment.

Villa fans, how well do you think Kalvin Phillips would fit into your team next season? Join the discussion by commenting below...