Lovre Kalinic needs time to justify £7m price-tag and end Aston Villa problem position

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Aston Villa finally got their man in January when Lovre Kalinic arrived at Villa Park. Back in January 2016, it looked like Aston Villa had signed the Croatian talent. The giant goalkeeper had been in talks with Villa for some time and the Daily Mail reported that a £4.9 million fee had been agreed between Villa and his club, Hajduk Split.

It soon emerged however that Kalinic would not be making the move. As reported by Index, Kalinic did not have the requisite qualifications to be eligible for a work permit to play football in the UK.

He went on to play in Belgium before finally joining Aston Villa in January for a fee reported by The Telegraph to be in the region of £7 million.

However, Aston Villa fans are probably not yet convinced of his ability.

Kalinic has looked fairly ordinary and at the weekend some Aston Villa fans were pleased to see Jed Steer had taken his place due to concussion.

Aston Villa have not had a top permanent keeper in some time. Sam Johnstone was excellent whilst on loan, but is now at rivals West Brom. Pierluigi Gollini and Orjan Nyland were both signed to fulfil the role, but both struggled.

Kalinic has now had a weekend off due to his concussion and can hopefully use it to regroup, relax and recuperate.

Because he is a top stopper who Aston Villa should feel pleased to have on board. It could just be he needs time to settle in. Hopefully so, because the hunt for another new first-choice keeper would be too much for the Championship side.