Gabby Agbonlahor believes that Victor Lindelof would be Manchester United’s best defender if he was still at the club.
The Sweden international is into his second season at Aston Villa after joining the club for free in the summer of 2025 and has gone on to become a key player for Unai Emery.
He started the Europa League final in midfield as Villa beat Freiburg 3-0 to secure a place in the Champions League and claim a trophy.
Lindelof has played every minute of every match this season, bar Villa’s victory over Coventry in the Carabao Cup, where he was left on the bench.
And with his contract set to expire next summer, reports suggest he will be offered a new deal after impressing so much.
And Agbonlahor was full of praise for Lindelof, telling Jeff Stelling on talkSPORT Breakfast: “There is one defender who Aston Villa have got who would be Manchester United‘s best defender right now, and that is Victor Lindelof. He has been a revelation.
“He’s been a great pro as well, last season, he wasn’t getting as many starts because Ezri Konsa was there.
“But he was fantastic, and I think Taylor Harwood-Bellis has got a long way to get Lindelof out of the side.
“He would be Manchester United’s best defender now.”
Lindelof’s resurgence
Speaking about Lindelof last season, Emery praised his leadership and experience.
He said: “He has experience and he is a very good professional. He has qualities too. He is still being young to play football.
“We signed him in the last moments of the transfer window, because when we identified that possibility, I wanted in that moment everything that he did last week [vs West Ham].
“In 90 minutes he did everything I expected from him. He was really fantastic.
“Every day it is easy how we are working because his adaptation is so quick, and everything we need, through his experiences, he can give us.
“He gave us experience before, but maybe the best moment he had until now with us was the match at West Ham. He played a fantastic match.
“Now, he has shown us his level. He can’t stop now, and he must keep it! He is very mature, of course. This is very important.
“He is responsible too, and he has experiences, and hopefully he can help us a lot for the rest of the season.”
From that moment on, he hasn’t looked back, and he looks to be thriving away from the pressure cooker that is Man United.
Lindelof’s Man United departure
The centre-back joined Man United in the summer of 2017 from Benfica.
At the time, he was considered one of the best young defenders around, and he joined while Jose Mourinho was manager.
However, he never quite lived up to the expectations, but he still managed 284 appearances and penned a heartfelt goodbye when he departed.
He said: “It’s been a lot of ups and downs.
“But I mean, for me to be able to represent this club for eight years, it’s been an honour and a privilege, and a dream come true.
“I’ve had so many good memories here. Just looking at the Stretford End here, I mean, I’m going to miss it a lot.
“They’re [the fans] with us through absolutely everything, and it doesn’t matter the result, every single week, they come here and they support us and they sing their souls out.
“I just want to say thank you so much for taking me in.”
