According to The Birmingham Mail, Aston Villa are contenders to sign Chelsea and Wales defender Ethan Ampadu. 

The 18-year-old centre-back and defensive midfielder already has five Wales caps and is starting to turn heads amongst various clubs in England.

However, the player is yet to feature for Chelsea this season, and is therefore likely to be loaned out in January to give the player more game time.

This is where John Terry can play an important role at Aston Villa. The Chelsea legend is now the assistant at Villa Park under Dean Smith and will surely be able to entice the Chelsea man to the Championship given the strong links he has with the club that he served for almost 20 years.

However, the Ampadu has also been linked with Derby, who are managed by another Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. Therefore, these two icons of Chelsea face an intriguing battle ahead of January to see which one can land the defender. The Rams already have Blues players Mason Mount Fikayo Tomori on loan at the club, but they joined before Terry teamed up with Villa and therefore creating another destination for Chelsea stars.

Of the two clubs, Villa are the one that are in a greater need for a defender. The Lions' woes when it comes to centre-backs is well documented this season, with the club only having two recognised men in that position- James Chester and Axel Tuanzebe. The addition of the Welshman would certainly ease The Villans' troubles until the end of the season.