Recent reports have suggested that Aston Villa manager, Steven Gerrard spent a ‘considerable amount of time trying to convince centre-back, James Tarkowski to move to the north midlands, only for the Englishman to pursue a move to Merseyside with Everton soon after.
Tarkowski joined Burnley in 2016 from Championship side, Brentford for around £3 million [via Transfermarkt]. He made his Premier League debut by coming on as a substitute against Chelsea at Stanford Bridge, being placed in centre midfield.
The season after, he could confirm his place in the starting line-up, starting 31 of the club’s league games that season. The season after, he would go one better, captaining his side multiple times, helping them to a 7th place finish, confirming their place in Europa League qualification. Unfortunately, they would be eliminated in the final qualifying round by Olympiacos, but the Englishman played a vital role in his side getting to Europe in the first place.
After 6 seasons at Burnley, Tarkowski would leave at the end of his contract, joining Frank Lampard’s Everton side after Burnley’s relegation, where he has since revolutionised the defence alongside Conor Coady who also signed in the summer.
Although his move to Merseyside seemed to be quick and quite seamless, there was obviously a lot of interest in the centre-back before his move, one of these sides being Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa.
Steven Gerrard spent a considerable amount of time in the summer telling James Tarkowski directly exactly why he was the right fit for Aston Villa, Tarkowski opted against Villa and chose Everton instead.
— EFC DAILY (@EFCdaily_) October 21, 2022
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According to The Athletic [via HITC Sport]:
“Steven Gerrard spent a considerable amount of time trying to bring Everton defender James Tarkowski to Aston Villa.”
Although Aston Villa wanted Tarkowski to sure up their defence alongside Esri Konsa, he would go on to sign for Premier League rival Everton. Gerrard would miss out on his man, instead going on to sign Sevilla centre-half, Diego Carlos for around £30 million.
Carlos recently picked up a long-term injury in his second match, rupturing his Achilles Tendon, likely ruling the Brazilian out until at least February of 2023.
Now with his first-choice centre-half injured until next year and James Tarkowski now being part of one of the best centre-back partnerships in the league, Gerrard will be ruing his losses after just being put to the sword by the Aston Vills hierarchy.