Dean Smith Plays it Coy With Aston Villa Reportedly Close to Securing Transfer Deal

€18m Deal Incoming?

If you caught the recent three-part Dean Smith interview on the club’s in-house channel, recorded while he was in isolation from the recent Covid-19 outbreak, he certainly exhibited some enthusiasm when he spoke about being open to the ‘right deal’ during the January window.

While Smith admitted it would be a low-key transfer window for the club, he gave a look of a man, who might have such a deal on the table.

Fast-forward a day or two and the Marseille midfielder Morgan Sanson link to Villa has exploded. We’ve all seen the press and Villa social media go rabid over a fruitless player links before – most recently the millions of wasted words written on Milot Rashica – however, with that twinkle in Smith’s eye, the type of player Sanson is and how Villa now play, and throw in the news of a loan move for Conor Hourihane gathering pace, the stars seem to be aligning on this one.

The latest news out there (based on Marseille’s transfer movements and the need to offload to fund them) seems to suggest that if it’s happening, the deal reported to be around €18m in various French press, looks like it could be tied up this week.

Smith’s Words on the Deal

The subject of Sanson was addressed to Dean Smith in his recent pre-Manchester City press conference, but it was met with a typical straight bat by the Villa Head Coach.

“There’s a lot of players that I like and I’m never name-checking players that are associated with other football clubs so unfortunately no (I can’t comment),” said Smith.

“I think I’ve always said that this is going to be a quiet window for us. Our plans are already looking forward to the summer window and what we’re going to do there.

“But we’re never going to turn our noses up at a good value deal to bring a player in. There’s the possibility of some outs as well.”

The reason that Sanson could now be classed as a good value deal, was explained in an earlier MOMS article on the player, detailing the current TV contract issues the French Ligue 1 is experiencing.

In many ways the capture of Sanson could be seen as advance ‘summer window’ business, because it’s a deal that also works as security to the prospect of Ross Barkley returning to Chelsea, and staying with them next season.

The plot thickens… as Villa look to return to both action and the transfer market this week with a bang.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Subject Guilbert!!! what has he done so wrong that warrants moving him on,IMO he is a decent player but can’t prove his worth if he doesn’t get a chance even if it is from the bench. I am an Elmo fan but cannot see why we would keep him instead of Guilbert who has years on him. A big mistake about to be made IMO.

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