Aston Villa should push for a deal for Joe Lolley rather than Ryan Kent amid reported interest

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Aston Villa have reportedly shown interest in Nottingham Forest winger Joe Lolley and Liverpool’s Ryan Kent.

With promotion to the Premier League comes the freedom to dip into the transfer market and seemingly purchase the players that are on the top of your wishlist. Aston Villa and Dean Smith are in such a position now.

Sky Sports are reporting that Aston Villa are planning a renewed approach for Nottingham Forest’s Joe Lolley this summer, who would cost upward of £10 million, as the right wing is a priority for Smith.

Added with that, the Scottish Sun recently claimed that the Midlands outfit are planning a £10 million move for Liverpool winger Ryan Kent, who recently thrived during his season-long loan spell at Scottish Premiership side Rangers.

There is no doubt that Smith and Villa should prioritise a move for Lolley over Kent this summer because the former is a much better player and arguably more proven than Kent.

Added with that, Lolley is more naturally suited to play on the right-hand side, even though he did play on the left and through the middle during the recently concluded Championship campaign.

The Forest man played every league game for his team this season, scoring 11 goals and supplying the same amount of assists [transfermarkt].

Compared with Kent, he struggled during his time in the Championship, he has three goals and five assists to his name in 53 appearances [transfermarkt] and his time at Rangers shouldn’t be the only pointer that Villa should make a move for him.

It could be argued that the Championship is a much better league in terms of quality than Scotland’s top-tier and given the fact that Villa are looking for players to compete in the Premer League, a player like Kent would perhaps be too much of a risk, whereas Lolley wouldn’t.

Lolley’s ability to play through the middle shouldn’t be underestimated either, not forgetting that he is a boyhood Villa fan and he would have that extra bit of spark to his game.