{"id":812051,"date":"2026-08-13T08:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/812051\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T08:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:18:13","slug":"aston-villa-striker-brian-madjo-makes-impressive-entrance-after-eight-months-in-limbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/812051\/","title":{"rendered":"Aston Villa: Striker Brian Madjo makes impressive entrance after eight months in limbo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Villa had fought since the start of the year to register the 6ft 4in Madjo following his \u00a310m arrival from Metz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Under-18 players cannot complete international transfers, but the club argued that since Madjo was born in London he should be exempt &#8211; despite having three caps for Luxembourg in friendlies. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Since those games, he accepted an England Under-17 call up last year and has four goals in nine appearances, scoring on his debut against Venezuela. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">With England searching for their next No.9 once Harry Kane eventually retires, Madjo could force himself into the conversation in the coming years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Fifa does allow some exemptions for minor players to make moves, including if a 16 or 17-year-old transfers within the European Union &#8211; something the UK is no longer part of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The battle was finally won just eight days ago &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/cgr74dj0xryo\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">after Villa took their case to CAS in July<\/a> &#8211; and Madjo was added to the travelling party for Salzburg, having not been included in the initial squad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">With Ollie Watkins rested after World Cup duty and Tammy Abraham left on the bench, the youngster was given the responsibility up front by Emery having scored four pre-season goals. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">His strike at the Red Bull Arena, holding off Ecuador international Willian Pacho to volley in John McGinn&#8217;s cross, was arguably the hardest chance of the trio he had in a first half full of promise. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It cancelled out Khvicha Kvaratskhelia&#8217;s opener for PSG, only for Desire Doue to hit a second-half winner after a video assistant referee (VAR)  check.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Before his goal, the hulking Madjo had earlier planted a free header over from three yards and shot wide, but was a constant nuisance for 11-time Ligue 1 winner and Brazilian centre-back and captain Marquinhos. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He played because he was showing us his capacity to work and be demanding,&#8221; said boss Emery. &#8220;It is not just about scoring goals, it&#8217;s about defending and how he has the commitment and discipline tactically. He was doing that. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I wanted to play with young players and watch their progression. Brian started scoring goals [in pre-season] against Walsall and Real Sociedad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Now the reality is we have shown their capacity, but they have to keep being consistent, demanding and keep performing at the level they were.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Villa have been looking to sign a new striker &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/teams\/chelsea\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chelsea<\/a>&#8216;s Nicolas Jackson has been a summer target &#8211; but Madjo&#8217;s availability now gives Emery a different option and dilemma before the Premier League season opener at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/teams\/brighton-and-hove-albion\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brighton<\/a> on 23 August.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;You&#8217;ve got a young player coming, especially on a stage like this one, against PSG, getting in those scoring positions and not allowing that disappointment to stay with you,&#8221; former Villa striker Dion Dublin told BBC Radio 5 Live.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I saw Brian Madjo, he had his hands on his head for a couple of seconds and then he got into another scoring position.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He was brave enough to get back into that scoring position and if he keeps missing it&#8217;s not frightening him. He&#8217;s happy to have that pressure on his shoulders. I&#8217;ve been there, you need to be able to deal with it. At 17, he seems to be doing it easily.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Villa had fought since the start of the year to register the 6ft 4in Madjo following his \u00a310m&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-812051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}