OPINION
Dean Smith must have made his mind up about Aston Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland fairly quickly after it was reported today (Thursday) that a replacement for the Norway international has already been lined up for the January transfer window.
According to Telegraph journalist John Percy, Villa have completed Smith’s first “major” signing at Villa Park by snapping up Croatia number one Lovre Kalinic from Gent in a deal for £5.4million.
Lovre Kalini? to #avfc is now a done deal. Fee of €6m agreed with Gent for the Croatia international goalkeeper. First major signing for Dean Smith
— John Percy (@JPercyTelegraph) December 20, 2018
Kalinic will not be able to play for Villa until the transfer window re-opens in January, but for Smith to have gotten a deal over the line at this time in December, it surely shows just how desperate he was for a new goalkeeper.
Nyland has been one of the worst goalkeepers that Aston Villa have had since Peter Enckelman.
The 28-year-old has made mistakes in pretty much every single game he has played for the club and his errors have led to Villa conceding way too many goals.
Most recently, his awful ability to deal with crosses into the box led to West Brom scoring a stoppage time goal to earn a 2-2 draw against Smith’s side in a West Midlands derby.
It is pretty clear that Smith has already had it with Nyland, and maybe an exit is on the cards for the sloppy Norway international in January, especially as Villa have other goalkeeper options available in Mark Bunn and Andre Moreira.
The club could be wasting a lot of money by having four goalkeepers on the books so getting rid of their £1million (Express & Star) summer singing Nyland would make sense.
They say that first impressions can last a life-time and Nyland’s first impression on Smith has clearly been a bad one.