Seb Stafford-Bloor, Adrian Clarke and Mike Calvin discussed the latest goings-on in English football during a recent edition of BT Sport’s ‘Football Writers Podcast’ and during this show, the panel spent some time discussing Aston Villa’s club-record signing Wesley Moraes.
After earning promotion to the Premier League from England’s second tier via the 2018/19 Championship play-offs, Villa made a heavy investment in their playing squad. According to Transfermarkt, Villa have got the highest net transfer expenditure of any Premier League side for the 2019/20 campaign and Wesley’s signing was part of that spending spree, as the Brazilian striker joined newly-promoted Villa for a club-record transfer fee last summer, as per the BBC.
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Despite investing heavily in their playing squad after making the jump to the Premier League from England’s second-tier, Villa have struggled this season and with just three league games left to play in the 2019/20 campaign, they sit inside of the relegation zone – four points from safety, ahead of Wednesday evening’s Premier League fixtures.
Villa may have hoped that their club-record signing would help them to avoid relegation this term, however, Wesley has scored just five goals in his 21 top-flight appearances for Villa this term. After going on a run of 12 league games without scoring, the attacker scored in his most recent Premier League appearance but after that, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury and he hasn’t played a Premier League game since.
Stafford-Bloor spent some time discussing Wesley during his recent appearance on the Football Writers Podcast and he shared that he believes Villa are set to take a loss on their investment in the 23-year-old attacker.
The journalist said: “You’re going to have to take a very big loss on that transfer most likely, unless there’s some sort of clever clause written into his contract.
“I think if I’m in that situation, I take a gamble on a Glenn Murray – someone that I know is going to score goals in that league and who isn’t going to have an adjustment period which is potentially going to cost me two or three months worth of results.”
Will Villa take a loss on Wesley Moraes?YES, DEFINITELY
NO, I DON'T THINK SO
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TIF Thoughts…
As per Sky Sports, relegation is said to cost clubs ‘approximately £50m in Premier League distributions alone.’ With that in mind, as well as the heavy investment that they made in their squad following their promotion last season, it may be understandable if Villa do have to sell some of their players, such as club-record signing Wesley, should they suffer relegation this season.
Furthermore, considering that Wesley has not been particularly prolific since joining Villa, as well as the fact that he has missed a significant amount of game time following a cruciate ligament injury, it may be understandable why Stafford-Bloor has shared that he believes the club may take a loss on the forward.