Aston Villa reportedly had their eye on Lukas Nmecha in the summer, and he put in an excellent display against Steve Bruce’s side.
It appeared at the time that there may have been a very good chance that Nmecha would end up joining the Villans, with Birmingham Live reporting that he was in the directors’ box for their victory over Hull City.
Ultimately however, Nmecha would join Preston North End with Villa pursuing a loan deal for Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham instead. And it has appeared to be a smart move to get Abraham in.
He has scored two goals in five games for the Villans, while Nmecha is still waiting to open his account for Alex Neil’s side. It would be wrong to suggest that Villa signed the wrong striker, but their summer target arguably did manage to prove a point to Bruce’s side on Tuesday night.
Nmecha was superb as Preston held Villa to a dramatic 3-3 draw at Villa Park. It was a remarkable game that saw the visitors come from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 before Villa blew a golden chance to pull off a similar comeback as Glenn Whelan saw his penalty saved before the full-time whistle blew.
It was Nmecha’s best performance for the Championship strugglers, and may have perhaps left Bruce questioning whether Villa are going to rue not signing the youngster in the summer when they seemingly had a fantastic chance.
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