Why Aston Villa should steer clear of an Ayew-Barrow swap deal

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Aston Villa have been linked to a swap deal involving Swansea City’s Modou Barrow and their forward Jordan Ayew.

It appears that Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce is determined to shake up his attacking options during the January transfer window.

Bruce, who is currently without goal-getter Jonathan Kodjia due to the forward’s commitments at the African Cup of Nations, has already sanctioned the sale of Rudy Gestede to Middlesbrough and is experiencing tribulations with another likely to leave the Midlands before the end of the window – big-money front man Ross McCormack.

Add to the equation the transient nature of Gabriel Agbonlahor’s fitness, form and functionality at Villa Park and it becomes clear that Bruce needs reinforcements in attacking areas.

However, despite the signing of midfielder Henri Lansbury and strong links with Barnsley’s captain Conor Hourihane, Villa are yet to invest in any renowned goal threat.

The recent suggestions in Birmingham Mail of a swap deal involving Swansea City winger Modou Barrow and their forward Jordan Ayew only compounds the issue further – as Ayew is capably comfortable in a centre-forward role, whereas Barrow is certainly a wide player more in the mould of existing Villa squad member Albert Adomah.

Further, it is the statistics that provide perhaps the most significant deterrent as to why swapping Ayew for Barrow could be a big mistake for Villa.

The official Opta statistical data for both players’ performances in the 2015/16 Premier League campaign suggests that, despite Villa’s relegation and capitulation at times, Ayew edged out Barrow in the vast majority of outputs.

Examining the data on an average per game basis, Ayew out-performed Barrow my some margin with regards to goals scored, shots on target, successful passes, successful dribbles and tackles won. Conversely, Barrow edges out Ayew on just crossing accuracy – but by only 0.07 per game.

Admittedly, data is largely a performance indicator of the past and by no means predicts future successes – but if Bruce is to lose yet another front man in Ayew, then the significance of the potential gamble on the unproven Barrow is emphasised to a much greater degree.