Norwich City had a bid accepted for Aaron Tshibola in 2016 before the Reading midfielder joined Championship rivals Aston Villa.
Aaron Tshibola has told the Sun that he never wanted to join Norwich City before his ill-fated £5 million move to Aston Villa, even though The Canaries had a bid accepted for the then-Reading starlet.
Four years ago, a London-born starlet found himself heading for the Madejski exit door in acrimonious circumstances almost as soon as he had forced his way into the Royals’ first-team plans.
Tshibola would eventually end up joining Villa in a £5 million deal with a club then coached by Roberto di Matteo fighting off competition from Championship rivals Norwich.
TEAMtalk claimed that the Anglian outfit had a £2 million bid accepted before a breakdown in negotiations closed the door to Carrow Road.
“I wanted to stay, I had asked to stay and now they were telling me they weren’t sure. My head was flying and then I heard from the club that Norwich had a bid accepted and then rejected because of a clause Reading wanted,” said Tshibola, who is now playing in Portugal with Aves.
“I had no knowledge about it and it had been accepted, it was all over the news. It was crazy, I didn’t even want to go there, and I felt like I was being sacrificed because the club could get some money out of me.”
Tshibola would only make eight league appearances in Aston Villa colours before being farmed out on a series of loan deals.
But, after spells in Belgium, Scotland and, erm, Milton Keynes, Tshibola is now looking to rebuild his reputation in the Primeira Liga against the likes of Benfica, Porto and Sporting Lisbon.
It’s tempting to wonder, however, how different life would have been if he had joined a Norwich side who would end up storming to the Championship title with a team chock-full of exciting young talents under Daniel Farke.
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