Rushian Hepburn-Murphy may be one of Aston Villa’s brightest stars but his future may lie elsewhere.
It wasn’t just the lifeless, soulless performances that left Villa Park vacant in the latter stages of last season. The fact is that most of the players in arguably the worst team in the history of the Premier League had no connection with one of the most historic clubs in the English game.
Of the starting XI in Villa’s 6-0 home humiliation against Liverpool in February, surely one of the most pathetic, insipid team performances this side of the century, only two had been at the club for more than three years; Ashley Westwood, a symbol of the club’s decline among a number of fans, and Gabby Agbonlahor, stripped of his captaincy just a few weeks later.
Therefore, new owner Tony Xia wasted no time in overhauling Villa’s playing staff in the summer with players of character arguably even more essential than ones of quality. If Villa are to escape the punishing Championship, mercenary players and half-interested imports had to go.
Consequently, Villa should be commended of their handling of Rushian Hepburn-Murphy’s ongoing contract impasse.
The Birmingham Mail report that the Midlands giants offered the 18-year-old, who has played just 20 minutes of league football in his career, more money than any other academy graduate at his age in the club’s history but, as of yet, a contract remains unsigned.
“He hasn’t signed his contract. The rest is up to him,” Steve Bruce told the Birmingham Mail this weekend. “We have made a fantastic offer to the young boy. Until he commits he won’t be involved.”
Watching ‘one of their own’ rise through the ranks may have been the perfect tonic for those put-upon Villa supporters but the club simply cannot afford players whose hearts, and heads, are elsewhere.
They’ve learned that lesson the hard way.
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