Have Aston Villa signed the next Romelu Lukaku in Brian Madjo?

Aston Villa have captured one of the most exciting wonderkids in European football after fighting off fierce competition to secure Brian Madjo’s services from Metz.

The upper echelons at Villa Park had to present a very compelling proposal to convince the England Under 17 international, and clearly, it had enough weight to persuade him. 

In this piece, we’ve looked at three reasons why Villa could have a player who could be playing in the famous claret and blue colours for the next decade.

Comparisons already made between Villa new-boy Brian Madjo and Romelu Lukaku

Such high praise surely will have Villa fans licking their lips at the prospect of having a striker in Madjo who could turn out to be the next Lukaku. 

Arguably, the last towering target man to grace the Villa dressing room was Christian Benteke, and that was over a decade ago. Incidentally, like Lukaku, Benteke was also a Belgian international, so are we looking prospectively at the perfect pending relationship between Madjo and his new employers? 

Despite being only 17 years old, Madjo has already been given some very encouraging words of confidence from the technical director of the Luxembourg National Football Team, Manuel Cardoni Cardoni even went as far as saying that Madjo has a “more complete profile” than Lukaku.

Just putting it into perspective, Lukaku has played for some of the biggest clubs across Europe and has found the back of the net on 300 times.

In addition, two Serie A titles, an FA Cup, a Europa League Golden Boot and a Player of the Year award with Inter Milan are all silverware sitting in his personal trophy cabinet.

“His profile is similar, but, even if we are keeping our feet on the ground, Brian has a more complete profile, because he is good in tight spaces, really good in terms of positional play. He is also good in terms of going in behind [the defence], and he can also feed the ball with both feet. He has huge room for growth.”

Villa beat European giants to Brian Madjo’s signature

Reportedly, former Champions League winners Chelsea and Real Madrid were both chasing Madjo’s signature, prior to Unai Emery’s men securing Villans’ newest teammate. 

To put two of the biggest household names, not just in European football but across the globe, in the same sentence, just showcases what Villa have inherited from Metz. 

Villa have a proven history of producing some of the best youngsters to ever grace the beautiful game, for example, Jack Grealish, Gabby Agbonlahor and Gareth Barry, to name a few. That surely convinced Madjo and his representatives that Villa Park was always the right destination. 

The worst thing that a young footballer can have presented to him is an impossible challenge, especially at such a young age. 

Madjo still to develop on-and-off-the-pitch

However, with Villa’s proven track record, there shouldn’t be a worry. Standing at a staggering 6ft 2’, Madjo still has the natural ability to continue growing and progressing on and off the pitch.

Signing on the dotted line at Villa Park for five and a half years, Madjo made his professional debut at only 16 years of age with Metz’s Under 19s, the beneficiary of talent. Thirteen goals across all competitions earned him a call up to the Metz’ first-team at the beginning of the 2025/26 campaign, but did fail to find the back of the net in five matches. 

Madjo’s signing is the sixth-highest in the history of the French club and could potentially turn out to be a bargain for Villa in the long term, especially considering all of the aforementioned comments in this piece.

With Villa reportedly having tabled a bid for Ferran Torres, with Barcelona potentially looking to cash in on the striker, with next season’s spending purse a key factor. Are we close to seeing Emery’s attacking options get even deeper, alongside the additions of Madjo and winger Alysson?