With the announcement that both Scott Hogan and Gabby Agbonlahor have returned to training to boost Villa’s striking options, it will be interesting to see how that has any influence on Steve Bruce’s approach in the January transfer window.
Surely, it’s just a matter of covering Jonathan Kodjia now with a loan, now that the perceived striker crisis hasn’t come to fruition.
In last weeks round-up, we discussed three striker names so far that have been linked to Villa, with a loan deal for Manchester United’s James Wilson probably the most sensible of the bunch.
Leicester’s Leo Ulloa has also been mentioned, as he’s struggling to get time at the Foxes.
This week though, the main two players there’s been talk of, are:
Oli
This week saw Swansea City striker Oli McBurnie name be linked with a loan move to Villa.
The 21-year-old, 6ft 2 striker is a regular for the Swans’ Under-23 side, impressing in last season’s Premier League 2 Division 2 title win, but hasn’t had much chance with the Swans’ first team – playing 83 minutes in total in seven sub appearances.
McBurnie was due to join Barnsley on loan on transfer deadline day, until the paperwork wasn’t processed correctly. So, you’d expect him to try for a long again for the rest of the season.
The fact that he’s tall and can be a focal point to Villa attacks is in his favour, if Villa stick with the one up top, but his temperament for the pressure of a promotion race is untested.
Rolando
The week the Daily Mirror suggested that Villa were interested in Newcastle United winger Rolando Aarons, with mooted interest in the player from Premier League clubs too.
The 22-year-old, has featured in a couple of substitute appearances recently for Newcastle in the Premier League, but for most of the season Rafa Benitez has frozen him out.
Still, he does have competition in the likes of Matt Ritchie on the right, and Jacob Murphy and Christian Atsu on the other flank.
The question is though do Villa currently need another winger for the purpose of this season?
The right side has Snodgrass, Elmohamady and the option of Adomah, while the returning Jack Grealish and Andre Green (incoming soon), both can cover for the current left-wing revelation Adomah.
With Aarons on a long-term contract, it’s unlikely Villa would shell out and buy a player for the long-term future in the January window due to the uncertainty of what league they’ll be in and also FFP.
Increasingly, it looks like Villa will do very little in the January window, especially now that Villa’s injured players seem to be returning before the window opens.
UTV
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