By Wayne Veysey

21st Aug, 2020 | 4:19pm

Exclusive: Senior Aston Villa defender in advanced talks to join new club

Aston Villa defender James Bree is in advanced talks to join Luton Town permanently, Football Insider can reveal.

The right-back, 22, has been given the green light to leave the Midlands giants by Dean Smith as he is some way down their defensive pecking order.

A Villa source has told Football Insider that Bree is in negotiations with Luton and all parties are confident of an agreement.

The move would end his three-year spell at Villa Park, which began when he signed from boyhood club Barnsley for £3million in January 2017.

Bree has struggled to make an impact at the Premier League club, including when they were in the Championship.

He has made just 28 appearances for Smith’s side and spent last season on loan at Luton after a spell out at Ipswich Town in the second half of 2018-19.

Smith’s regular right-backs last season were Frederic Guilbert and Ahmed Elmohamady, who made 25 and 17 starts respectively in all competitions.

Bree was a mainstay of the Luton side last season that narrowly avoided relegation down from the Championship back to League One.

He made 34 league starts among 42 appearances in all competitions, operating mainly at right-back but also filling in at left-back on a number of occasions.

Significantly, Bree demonstrated his attacking value by weighing in with eight assists from his defensive role.

He made his name at Barnsley, where he graduated from their youth ranks to make 61 appearances.

In other news, Aston Villa have been backed to sign Premier League giants’ 25-year-old after “huge risk” fails.