Ray Parlour has admitted on talkSPORT that he doesn’t want to see one player join Aston Villa.
It’s still early days but Aston Villa have had a cracking transfer window so far.
Dean Smith has broken the club’s transfer record to sign Emiliano Buendia from newly-promoted Norwich City and Ashley Young has also returned to Bodymoor Heath.
But the Villans are also interested in signing a certain Emile Smith Rowe from Arsenal.
They have had two bids of £25 million and £30 million knocked back by the Londoners, and club legend Parlour wants to see him stay at his former side.
He told talkSPORT: “Obviously he was linked to Aston Villa and I was thinking ‘oh please don’t sell him to Aston Villa’ but he looks like he’s staying, which is a good sign.”
Grealish replacement?
It’s an odd strategy by Aston Villa because the young Englishman and Buendia are very similar players.
You could perhaps argue that the Villans are only keen on Smith Rowe as a potential replacement for Jack Grealish, who is linked with a £100 million move to Manchester City.
If Dean Smith believes – really believes – that he’ll be keeping Grealish then bringing in Smith Rowe, having already signed the Argentine, makes virtually no sense whatsoever.
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