Aston Villa fans have their say on Steven Gerrard's shock Arsenal transfer

Aston Villa are quickly becoming the masters of a secret deal that surprises their entire fanbase and even the families of the player they are signing.

They first executed a deal along these lines in summer, with the £30 million signing of Danny Ings from Southampton. Another former Saints player also arrived in a similar deal recently, after Calum Chambers was announced to the surprise of the entire footballing world.

conducted a survey asking a series of questions to Villa fans regarding the deal and here are some of the results.

80.4% Villa fans agreed that the signing of Chambers on a three-and-a-half-year deal was a good move for the club, and it is clear to see why. Chambers can play across multiple positions and with 151 Premier League appearances to his name, offers a wealth of experience to the team.

58.6% of votes stated he was a centre half, 22.7% think he is a right back and 18.7% believe he is a defensive midfielder. Across 228 appearances in all competitions, 103 of the games were spent at right-back, 82 at centre back and 43 in midfield. It's clear to see Chambers offers a great degree of versatility and solves several issues for Villa, who lack depth in both midfield and at the back.

He's clearly an accomplished defender but the prospect of him playing midfield is arguably the most intriguing. In his 2018/19 loan spell at Fulham he spent the majority of his time in the holding role and was even named the "overwhelming" winner of the Player of the Season whilst doing so.

67.2% said no to this question and 32.8% said yes. Chambers likely won't displace either Ezri Konsa or Tyrone Mings in the starting line-up but what he does offer is an accomplished Premier League defender that can step up if needed.