Danny Murphy believes Aston Villa was the right move for Danny Ings, telling talkSPORT (23 August, 12.20am) the £30 million striker may have struggled for game time at Arsenal.
Eyebrows were raised up and down the land when Aston Villa paid £30 million for a 29-year-old striker with an injury history longer than the Magna Carta.
But during Saturday’s Premier League clash with Newcastle United, England international Ings repaid a sizeable chunk of that eye-watering transfer fee with an early goal of the season contender.
The game was deadlocked at 0-0 before the former Southampton talisman blasted a wondrous scissors kick into the back of Freddie Woodman’s net. It was a “world class” piece of acrobatics that wouldn’t look out of place in Max Whitlock’s parallel bars routine.
And after Arsenal suffered a second successive 2-0 defeat 24 hours later, swatted aside by a vastly superior Chelsea side, some have wondered whether Mikel Arteta and co missed a trick, failing to reinforce a toiling front line with one of the most lethal and technically gifted finishers in the country.
Murphy, however, thinks Aston Villa is the right environment for Ings, insisting he would be little more than a useful squad player at a club such as Arsenal, Tottenham or Manchester City.
Aston Villa over Arsenal for Danny Ings
“Is he better than (Pierre-Emerick) Aubameyang? No, is the answer,” says former Liverpool and Spurs playmaker Murphy.
Those of you who witnessed Aubameyang’s ineffective 30-minute cameo against Chelsea yesterday may say differently.
“One of the things the big teams would have looked at is his injury record,” Murphy adds. “I don’t think he’s played enough games to justify (a move to a giant club). He’s a risk.”
Ings famously ruptured the cruciate ligament in both legs during that haunting spell at Liverpool but bounced back stronger than ever at Southampton, largely staying injury-free during his time on the South Coast.
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