Introducing Brian Madjo

Villa's most expensive teenage signing at €12m, Brian Madjo, has already made headlines, but his precocious talent and huge physique make his ascent to the first team completely unpredictable.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/aston-villa/reserve/brian-madjo

Whether he's going into the u18s, u21s, out on loan or straight into the first-team squad will be fascinating to see. Born in Enfield but growing up in Luxembourg, he played for Racing FC Union Luxemburg u17s before switching to French youth football with FC Metz’s u17 team in December 2023, where he has risen through the youth ranks before being promoted to their Ligue 1 first team squad for the 2025-26 season.

Brian made his Ligue 1 debut in August, starting in the defeat to Strasbourg, playing nearly an hour before starting the next game, another defeat, this time to Lyon and staying on for 80 minutes.

To be fair, Metz are having a terrible season, so the opportunity to shine hasn’t been there, but three further substitute appearances mean the 16-year-old, turning 17 on Monday, already has hard-won matchday experience, something most of his England u17 colleagues don’t have.

In three appearances for the u17s in September, he won a penalty and scored in the wins over Germany and Venezuela, respectively, before hitting a brace in England’s 3-5 defeat to Sweden in the u17 European Championship Qualifiers.

But all that aside, he's a proper unit. Massive. If Unai can bring skills out to match his power, then he's going to be a real handful.

“I’m really happy to be at this beautiful club. “The project was the one for me, the environment is very good for me and the coaching staff will help me to improve. “This is a great opportunity for me because it’s going to make me grow.”

Brian Madjo