The ‘complete’ £25m defender wanted by Aston Villa & Newcastle

There’s a new name going around the rumour mill on a regular basis all of a sudden – Joel Ordóñez, a 20-year-old centre-back whose performances at Club Brugge seem to have caught the attention of scouts up and down the Premier League. Reports suggest that he could be on the move for a fee of around £25m, so is he worth that kind of money?

Quite a few teams have been linked with him, but two have come up consistently – Aston Villa and Newcastle United, who crop up in stories from outlets like Caught Offside and TBR Football. Both reports put other sides into the mix too, but those are the teams who seem to be closest to the front of the queue.

A product of the impressive youth system of Independiente del Valle in his home country of Ecuador, the youngster has already picked up four caps for his national team and played the full 90 minutes in each of Ecuador’s World Cup qualifying wins in the recent international break, helping his team to keep clean sheets on both occasions.

Aston Villa have seen him up close and personal, as well. He was involved in Club Brugge’s surprising 1-0 win in the Champions League, a game most notable for the bizarre penalty conceded by Tyrone Mings but in which Ordóñez also showed off his impressive positioning and potent aerial presence, making eight clearances over the course of the game.

TBR Football’s article describes him as a “complete” defender with a profile similar to that of former Chelsea defender Antonio Rüdiger, and Ordóñez is perhaps a little less powerfully-built than the German, at 6’2” he still cuts an impressive figure and he can get plenty of hang time in the air, making him an excellent first defence against crosses and high balls into the box.

He's also got a level of positional sense that most young centre-halves can’t lay claim to, and is often in the right place at the right time to cut out passes and prevent the ball from getting into the forwards’ feet.

That positional ability is helpful in part because it helps to cover his weakness – he isn’t a particularly strong tackler and loses most of the one-on-one situations he faces. That’s where Premier League teams might find themselves pausing for thought, because he looks vulnerable when players get the ball down and run at him.

He plays the game to try and deal with the ball before he finds himself in such situations, at least, and doesn’t look to make large numbers of tackles. In that regard, there are certain similarities with Marc Guéhi, another defender who doesn’t make a great number of tackles largely because he’s so good at avoiding being in situations where he has to dive in in the first place.

Ordóñez also has another very impressive string to his bow – he has a midfielder’s passing range and willingness to get the ball downfield quickly and accurately. Teams looking for quick vertical passing from the back line, such as Newcastle, would make great use of his distribution, and he’s also got the technique and composure under pressure to be highly press resistant. If he can work on his weakness against dribblers, he could indeed become a truly complete defender.

So far, Ordóñez has acquitted himself well at the highest level of European and international competition, and has a maturity and calm confidence about his play which bodes well for his future. There are elements of his game which need to develop, but if a club is convinced that he can make those leaps then £25m doesn’t seem like such a vast sum.

Ordóñez’s future is very bright indeed, and it will be interesting to see which team takes a chance on him. A club with a strong central midfield core would be the obvious starting point, as teams which allow players to run at the defence would risk exposing his frailty in the tackle – and a club whose strategy makes use of his exceptional passing with direct counter-attacking play would make a lot of sense too. One way or another, we’ll likely see him at a top team very soon.