Steve Bruce lamented the striker-heavy nature of his squad recently so why is he looking to bring in yet another one?
On the face of it, centre-forward is the last position Aston Villa need to strengthen in the January transfer window. With Jonathan Kodjia, Ross McCormack, Rudy Gestede, Jordan Ayew and Gabby Agbonlahor to choose from, not to mention emerging 18-year-old Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, most Championship managers would give anything to be standing in Steve Bruce’s shoes right now.
Yet delve a little deeper and you can see why Villa are ready to spend £9 million on Brentford’s Scott Hogan, according to The Irish Sun.
The 24-year-old’s tally of 13 Championship goals in 22 games is bettered only by Newcastle United’s permanently predatory Dwight Gayle, while he has scored more than McCormack, Gestede, Ayew and Agbonlahor put together this term. And, just for a bit of extra context, he is six ahead of Villa’s top scorer Kodjia in the Golden Boot standings.
Nonetheless, £9million remains a huge fee for a player who returned from a season-destroying cruciate ligament injury only very recently, especially when there are cracks in the Villa squad that cannot be papered over by a new centre-forward, no matter how prolific.
Therefore, discussions over a potential January deal are likely to rumble on.
Scott Hogan looks like a beast probably better then Gestede #AVFC
— #KodjiaIsGod (@CochraneLiam) December 20, 2016
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