Dean Smith’s Aston Villa have been linked with goalkeeper Pepe Reina – but Villa Park goalkeeper Orjan Nyland put in a superb display in midweek.
Aston Villa manager Dean Smith is reported to be “reconsidering his priorities” in the transfer market following the impressive performance of one of his players in midweek.
Villa are currently in the midst of a goalkeeping crisis, with Tom Heaton out for the season, Jed Steer also on the sidelines and Lovre Kalinic massively out of favour, leading to Villa prematurely bringing Matija Sarkic back from his loan spell at Livingston.
Orjan Nyland was Villa’s third choice goalkeeper just weeks ago but put in a superb performance in the League Cup semi-final first-leg draw with Leicester City, thwarting the dangerous Jamie Vardy and James Maddison time and time again, while there was nothing he could have done for Kelechi Iheanacho’s equaliser.
According to Sky Sports News, former Liverpool stopper Pepe Reina is Aston Villa’s top goalkeeping target, but following Nyland’s heroics against the Foxes, Smith currently has some food for thought regarding who – and what – the club should prioritise in the January transfer window.
The report claims that Smith’s overwhelming priority remains signing at least one striker before the end of the month, as Wesley Moraes suffered a knee injury in Villa’s 2-1 away at Turf Moor against Burnley on New Year’s Day, and are very short of options up front.
Reina made 285 appearances for Liverpool between 2005 and 2014 and has won 36 caps for Spain but he has played just 13 games in the last two seasons for AC Milan – although, while he is keen to get more game time, he is not yet sold on the idea of a return to England, added the report.
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