Aston Villa spent £15 million on Jonathan Kodjia.
Bristol City first-team coach John Pemberton has told The Bristol Post that the £15 million sale of Jonathan Kodjia is looking like a bargain for the Robins.
The 26-year-old forward joined Aston Villa in a big-money move toward the end of the summer transfer window.
But so far, Kodjia has only netted once in his first five games for the Villans, who are struggling in a big way under Roberto Di Matteo at the moment.
Bristol have replaced him with 18-year-old Tammy Abraham, who has netted 10 times for City so far this season after joining on loan, and Pemberton believes his side did the better business.
He told The Bristol Post: “To be honest, I think we’ve got the better end of the deal at the moment.
“At the time, we really didn’t want to lose Jonathan and we tried to persuade him to stay. He wanted to go and, when he did, I’d be lying if I said we were not a little bit worried.
“But Tammy has been absolutely outstanding. Because of the way he has performed, we have hardly missed Jonathan Kodjia at all. None of us could have imagined that situation a month ago.”
It looks like a cracking bit of business, but it is far too early to make long-term judgements about Kodjia’s value. He cost £15 million for a reason and the truth is that he is playing for a side whose best players – including Ross McCormack – are really struggling.
It’s a huge sum of money for a club like Bristol, but if he does improve at Aston Villa then who’s to stay he will not be worth twice that amount in the coming years?
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