Aston Villa journalist Gregg Evans has made a claim on Villa winger Jota.
This comes after Evans recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Villa-based podcast 1874 to go over Villa’s 1-0 defeat against Wolves at the weekend.
While discussing Villa’s team, Evans shared his thoughts on the Spanish winger and how he can be useful for Smith in the coming weeks.
He said: “I just can’t think how many more times are they going to go with Trezeguet who literally does nothing every game, surely Jota would just give him something a bit different?
“Okay, he’s not quite as mobile as him, he’s not quite as quick and direct when he’s got the ball, and probably wouldn’t do as much defensively, but [I] just think if you actually got the ball to him, he might do something different.
“I just think we’re at the stage now where [Villa are] really clearly running out of ideas. I don’t see where the wins are coming from. I still think that five or six points might be enough, but I just don’t know how Villa are going to get them at the moment, especially going into two really tough games against Liverpool and Man United next.”
Would you start Jota in Villa's next match?
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Villa signed Jota in last summer’s transfer window from Birmingham City for a fee of £4.05 million (per Transfermarkt), in a deal which saw Gary Gardner move in the opposite direction (per BBC).
Since then, Jota has only made nine appearances for Villa in the Premier League this year.
TIF Thoughts…
While Jota does offer Smith an extra attacking option, the fact that he hasn’t been a regular figure for Villa in the Premier League so far this season gives the impression that Smith hasn’t been impressed with the winger.
However, with Villa facing relegation by the end of the season, now may be the perfect time for Jota to prove himself in a Villa shirt to help his side get some positive results.