Was letting Scott Sinclair leave for Celtic a mistake for Aston Villa?

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Scott Sinclair left Aston Villa to join Celtic last summer, and he has been in great form for Brendan Rodgers’ side.

It’s fair to say that things didn’t go to plan for Scott Sinclair at Aston Villa.

There was a great deal of excitement when the rapid attacker arrived at Villa Park back in 2015, but he only ended up spending one season with the Midlands club before moving on.

Sinclair failed to show his top form at Villa, and never managed to hold on to a starting place, as the claret and blues disappointingly dropped out of the Premier League during the 2015/16 campaign.

And the 27-year-old admits that his time at Villa Park was very tough.

“Aston Villa feels like a long time ago — a world away. Football goes so quickly; it moves on, you look back, and you don’t know where the time has gone,” he said to the Scottish Sun.

“Being honest, that stage of my career was very tough, but you need to go through periods like that — and now I don’t think about that time.”

Sinclair made just 19 starts for Villa last season, and he was regularly kept on the substitutes’ bench as his teammates dropped out of the top tier of English football.

When Roberto Di Matteo took charge, he was quick to offload Sinclair – with Celtic deciding to take a chance of the winger.

And Brendan Rodgers gamble has proven to be a brilliant decision.

Sinclair has been restored back to his very best since moving to Celtic, and he has become one of the stand out players for the Glasgow side.

With the confidence of playing every week, Sinclair is reminding football fans of the ability that he showed while playing at Swansea City earlier in his career.

Sinclair has netted 17 goals in 36 appearances for Celtic so far this campaign, with his performances raising a number of eyebrows.

Sinclair’s displays may leave Villa wondering what might have been if they had shown more faith and patience in the wide-man.

While there is no doubting he never showed his best in a claret and blue shirt, it cannot be questioned that he would have been an asset in their current squad.

Villa have struggled for goals in the Championship this season, with Jonathan Kodjia being their only consistent scorer.

And if Sinclair keeps up this sort of form, Villa may well be left to rue the day that Di Matteo decided to offload him for just £4.5 million last summer (The Sun).