Aston Villa tried to sign Sanogo in 2015 and 2016 – but they will probably be releived that they could not tempt Arsenal into a deal.
Why Aston Villa have ever held an interest in Yaya Sanogo is anyone’s guess. All you needed was a matter of minutes to see that the rangy, Bambi-on-ice was never cut out to play at the top level.
The fact that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger persisted with him for as long as he did perhaps reflects the wider malaise at The Emirates over the last couple of years. Sanogo, a striker no less, managed one goal in 20 games for The Gunners and a combined tally of four during loan spells at Crystal Palace, Ajax and Charlton Athletic.
And then there was the immortal line that summed everything up, delivered in deadpan quality by Ronald de Boer, brother of then Ajax boss Frank.
“When I see Sanogo, I still have my doubts. I have still found no qualities with which you can do something,” de Boer said during Sanogo’s ill-fated 2015/16 spell at the Amsterdam ArenA, per The Express.
And if Villa wanted any more of an indication that they got a lucky escape by missing out on two occasions, consider this; since the former Auxerre prospect returned to France this summer to get his career back on track, he has failed to score a single goal.
Sanogo was belatedly released by Arsenal in the summer. Since then, the 24-year-old has made just three substitute appearances, failed to find the back of the net, and missed a month with another hamstring problem.
There’s little reason to suggest Sanogo, who The Mirror claimed Villa wanted on loan in 2015 and supposedly targeted again only last year, per the Birmingham Mail, would have done any better in the Midlands.
Villa have had enough misfiring strikers in recent years.
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