Frederic Guilbert surprised by Aston Villa promotion on Twitter

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Frederic Guilbert has posted on Twitter after parent club Aston Villa gained promotion to the Premier League on Monday afternoon, suggesting that he is somewhat surprised at the club’s success.

The 24-year-old was signed by manager Dean Smith in the January transfer window for £4.4million (Express & Star), but was immediately loaned back to French side SM Caen.

The right-back, who can also play in the middle of the defence, failed to prevent Caen from getting relegated but was one of the club’s better players – clocking up 38 appearances in all competitions.

Guilbert is now set to join Villa this summer and rival Ahmed El Mohamady for a place on the right side of the defence, and he described his surprise at seeing Villa go up – after signing for the club when they were tenth.

The tweet is translated as: “I signed for Aston Villa when they were 10th in the Championship, today I find myself in the Premier League ?. What a sense of anticipation ?.”

https://twitter.com/fredguilbert24/status/1133109979819515904

TBR’s view

Guilbert’s surprise is easy to understand. Dean Smith’s shrewd work in the January window finally saw the Midlands side shore up their defence, while he also brought the best out of Jack Grealish, Anwar El Ghazi and more.

Now, Guilbert will be hoping that the promotion to the Premier League will not harm his chances of game time. The France Under-21 international has competition at right-back.

It remains to be seen how good he will be in English football, but with £4million spent on the defender, Villa are certainly confident he will do a job.