Premier League news: Could Aston Villa wonderkid Brian Madjo be England’s Harry Kane successor?
Despite Brian Madjo only turning 17 years old in January, the 6ft 4in ex-Luxembourg international has already burst onto the scene thanks to a goal on his competitive debut in Aston Villa’s UEFA Super Cup loss to PSG.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Dylan Grady looks at the struggles Madjo has faced in his young career and considers what he could offer both Aston Villa and England in the future.
Biding his time
The 15st 10lb machine has been at Bodymoor Heath since he signed for the Villans in January for just £10 million.
Whilst Madjo was born in Enfield, England, he moved to Luxembourg at a young age and played for the likes of Marisca Mersch and Racing Union until he moved over to France to join Metz.
Due to Madjo being a physical phenomenon and already equipped technically, he quickly broke into the first team at just 16 and made his professional debut for the French side in August 2025.
This made Madjo Metz’s youngest-ever debutant at age 16 years and 217 days, breaking a record which had been held since 1974.
He only made five appearances for the Ligue 1 club before Unai Emery’s chief scout, Alberto Benito, identified Madjo as a player Villa needed to acquire.
With the future England under-17 international in high demand across Europe, Villa’s director of football, Damian Vidaganay, and president of football operations, Roberto Olabe, intervened and got the deal over the line.
A dual national
Given Madjo’s impressive physique, power, and goal-scoring record in the youth set-ups for Metz, Luxembourg took the chance to call him up in early 2025 and the youngster accepted.
He started three friendlies against Sweden, Switzerland, and Slovenia, but when a call-up from the English FA arrived, Madjo changed sides and chose to represent England instead.
After all, FIFA’s rules allow players with up to three international caps before the age of 21 to switch their national allegiance.
And Madjo quickly showed the FA they had made the right decision, scoring on his debut in a victory over the Venezuela under-17s.
Villa’s FIFA frustration
Madjo and Villa’s early excitement soon came to disappointment, though, when the West Midlands club couldn’t register Madjo in either their Premier League squad or the Europa League due to a disagreement with FIFA.
Whilst Villa classed the signing of the 17-year-old as a domestic affair due to Madjo being born in England, FIFA categorised it as an international transfer because he had already represented Luxembourg’s senior team.
FIFA claims that such transfers cannot be registered in squads until they turn 18.
This left Villa and Madjo disappointed and resulted in the striker being unable to play a competitive game for the club.
However, Villa’s representatives went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport during the off-season, with a hearing taking place in July, to demand that Madjo be allowed to register for the 2026/27 season.
In August, the verdict was delivered and Madjo was allowed to play for Villa.
Power and determination
Madjo appeared in all five of Aston Villa’s pre-season games this summer and started in the Super Cup final against PSG in Austria.
He scored three goals in pre-season, two against Walsall and one against Real Sociedad, routinely showing off his power and clinicalness.
The same can be said of his first-half strike versus PSG as he held off Ecuadorian international Willian Pacho and found the roof of Matvéi Safónov’s net.
Whilst Madjo exhibits brilliance in a lot of his game, he’s still a young forward learning his trade at the end of the day and displayed flashes of rawness when squandering chances in the first-half at the Red Bull Arena.
Indeed, with a little more composure and calmness, he could’ve had a first-half hat-trick.
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Learning from Watkins
Due to Madjo’s time on the sidelines, he has been a keen observer of Villa matches and has no doubt tried to take pieces of different strikers’ styles.
He could watch Ollie Watkins up close and personal in training and on matchdays while also taking in the physicality of someone like Erling Haaland.
On this, Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings said: “I presume he [Madjo] watched a lot of Ollie Watkins and understood how we play.
“I’ve had a few chats with him in terms of what he’s about to go into and the experience.”
Is this finally Madjo’s chance to break into Villa’s first eleven – and how long before he enters the thoughts of England boss Thomas Tuchel?
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