Aston Villa are set to reintegrate the young defender into the first team this season after being loaned out abroad.
Aston Villa have been preparing for the new season after completing their pre-season tour in Asia. They have played six games since last month but only managed to pick up three wins and suffered defeats in the remaining three. During the pre-season, Unai Emery has been assessing the youngsters included in the first team so far, and some of them have impressed the Spanish boss enough to earn a spot in the first team next season.
According to the report in Birmingham Live, the decision to promote him to the first team could be crucial.
“Aston Villa can save millions with big transfer decision, by promoting Kosta Nedeljkovic instead of pursuing Emerson Royal.”
The 20-year-old right back has made four appearances so far and registered one assist. It came in the opener against Indonesia All Stars last weekend. He has proven his worth and shown that he could be the deputy for Matty Cash.
The Serbian international finally saw positive results from his pre-season performances as he was named in the squad for the 2026 UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday. He could feature in that vital one-off game against Champions League winners PSG. Nedeljkovic is one of the youngsters who have been included in the squad for that continental clash. Another one was the Senegalese Modou Kebba Cisse.
Nedeljkovic joined The Lions back in January 2024 from Red Star Belgrade for a transfer fee of around £8 million plus add-ons. However, he stayed on his home soil until the end of the season as a loanee.
He eventually switched sides to Villa Park in the summer of 2024 and instantly made his Premier League debut against West Ham in August. Villa beat the Hammers 2-1. However, his form did not look promising yet, despite making 10 appearances in the first half of the season, including five games in the Premier League and two matches in the Champions League.
Thus, he was loaned out to RB Leipzig in the second half of the season. The Serbian full-back managed to play 11 times, which led the Bundesliga side to extend his loan for a full season in the 2025/26 campaign. Unfortunately, he only featured in six games in all competitions last season, worse than in the 2024/25 campaign.
Based on the data in FotMob, the right back, who has been capped 11 times at international level, had a fine successful-pass rate. His rate was 87.1% in that attribute, whereas his accurate long balls reached up to 62.5%. He excelled in aerial duels, but his rate for winning regular duels was only 26.7%.
Apart from that, he does need to improve his work, as his defensive contribution was only 12, 10 of them being clearances. His successful-cross rate was quite low too, at about 33.3%, which is not good enough for the top level. The departure of Andres Garcia probably does give him a chance to earn another opportunity with the first team. Yet, Nedeljkovic should begin to step up more on the pitch to seal his spot for the whole season. Otherwise, he could be loaned out again.
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