Aston Villa’s pursuit of Werder Bremen star Milot Rashica has been going on for a while now. The Villans tried hard to get him in the summer, but a move broke down in the final weeks of the transfer window.
Birmingham Mail claimed in September that Villa had triggered the attacker’s £20.5 million release clause, and a move looked a formality. However, Rashica demanded wages in the region of £75,000-a-week – twice as much as what he is currently earning in Bremen.
Dean Smith’s side walked away from negotiations then, but Deich Stube revealed last week that Aston Villa were still monitoring the situation, and a second attempt in January was on the cards.
Sadly, that will not happen now. Rashica has suffered a serious thigh injury and he is expected to spend a lot of time on the sidelines. Kicker claim that there is a break until the end of January and the Kosovo international is likely to miss a few games after that as well.
Werder Bremen boss Florian Kohfeldt told Kicker: “I’m very sorry for Milot because he was really fit again after his last injury and his form curve was clearly showing up again. It’s a shame that we will miss him for a long time with his quality.”
The injury all but rules out a move to Aston Villa in January. That is real shame as Dean Smith has been trying extremely hard to bring him to Villa Park for over six months now.
Rashica scored 11 goals and provided eight assists in the Bundesliga last season. He was widely expected to leave Bremen for a bigger club in the summer, but things didn’t quite work out for him.
He has had a terrible campaign this term due to injuries. Rashica has played just five times so far, and it looks like he will miss at least 10 more games in the next two or three months.
Villa will now have to focus their attention elsewhere. They have started the season brilliantly, and a quality addition or two in January could give them the boost they need to finish in the top half of the Premier League table this term.
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