Aston Villa’s reported January target scored the winner against them in Wednesday’s Championship clash with Brentford at Griffin Park.
Aston Villa’s worrying run of form shows no signs of coming to an end.
Dean Smith was supposed to lead his boyhood club to promotion after replacing Steve Bruce in the dugout, but Villa have won just two of their last 13 games in all competitions with their play-off dream slipping away rapidly.
A last-gasp defeat to Brentford, Smith’s former club, left Aston Villa tenth in the table and seven points adrift of the top six. And to make matters worse, the winning goal was scored by a man Aston Villa tried and failed to sign last month – the coveted Neal Maupay.
Sky reported that Aston Villa were keen to reunite Smith with the prolific Frenchman but a deal never materialised, perhaps due to the fact that Tammy Abraham stayed or perhaps due to his £20 million price tag.
But it is fair to say Maupay showed Villa what they could have had at Griffin Park, scoring his 18th Championship goal in magical fashion in the final seconds to seal a 1-0 win.
Villa fans would love to see the 22-year-old snapped up in the summer but, on last night’s evidence, he might be better off staying at Brentford.
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