Aston Villa manager Dean Smith worked with Romaine Sawyers during his time at Brentford as the midfielder is now producing the goods with West Bromwich Albion in the Championship.
Darren Bent doesn’t understand why Dean Smith didn’t bring Romaine Sawyers to Aston Villa as the player is now thriving at West Brom.
Former Villa striker Bent thinks that Sawyers is the ‘best player in the Championship by some distance’, as the West Brom man put in another stellar performance for his club during their 4-1 win against Bristol City on Wednesday night.
West Brom, who were beaten by Villa in the Championship play-off semi-finals last season, secured the signature of Sawyers during the summer transfer window.
Speaking to Sky Sports Football (27/11/19 at 7:40 pm), Bent thinks that Sawyers is good enough to play in the Premier League, as he questioned why Villa didn’t make a move for him.
“What I like about him is he never gives the ball away,” Bent told Sky Sports. “Even if he plays the ball forward, he still seems to find its man. Everything he does, he does with quality. For me, he’s the best player in the Championship by some distance.
“I just wonder why he hasn’t gone to the next level. He should be, with Dean Smith at Aston Villa, I fully expected to get him and take him to the Premier League. Why that hasn’t happened, I don’t know because he has more than enough ability to play in the Premier League.”
Smith worked with Sawyers at Brentford, and when he moved to his boyhood club last October, it was inevitable that he was going to secure the signature of some Bees players.
Villa’s promotion to the Premier League may have changed his tactics a bit, as he signed Brentford centre-back Ezri Konsa in the summer.
But it does have to be questioned whether Smith would have made a move for Sawyers had Villa still been in the Championship.
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