Stefanos Athanasiadis has a largely impressive goalscoring record in Greek football with PAOK and is reportedly a shock target for Aston Villa.
With Aston Villa one of the lowest scoring teams in the Championship last season, extra thrust in the final third wouldn’t go amiss as Steve Bruce aims to vastly improve on their disastrous 13th placed finish from 2016/17.
And, according to the Birmingham Mail, Villa have identified Greek striker Stefanos Athanasiadis as a potential addition to a strikeforce including the big-money signings Jonathan Kodjia and Scott Hogan.
Aston Villa Manager Steve Bruce
The 28-year-old has spent his entire professional career at PAOK and has also won 12 caps for the Greek national team since making his debut in 2011.
And, for the most part, Athanasiadis can boast a very respectable scoring record. He’s netted 112 goals across 319 games in his career, a one in three ratio, and also hit double figures in the Greek league for five straight seasons between 2011 and 2016.
However, it’s fair to say Villa would not be signing Athanasiadis in the most lethal form of his career.
Last season was arguably the most disappointing of his career as he failed to find the back of the net in 22 league outings for PAOK. Therefore, this makes the timing of Villa’s reported interest somewhat bizarre.
However, Athanasiadis’ record throughout the last few years may be enough to convince Bruce to part with the cash for a striker whose contract expires in 12 months’ time.
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