Aston Villa journalist Gregg Evans has shared some insight into Villa’s failed transfer deal for Brentford winger Said Benrahma last summer.
This comes after Evans recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Villa-themed podcast 1874 to go through a variety of topics related to Dean Smith’s side.
On the subject of Benrahma, who Villa tried to sign in the previous summer transfer window, Evans shared some information on the unsuccessful deal.
He said: “Villa thought they’d signed him on transfer deadline day last summer, they were confident that they were going to get it done but Brentford wouldn’t budge in their asking price, so they just weren’t able to get that over the line. It was another one that slipped away right at the end.”
The winger signed to Brentford back in the 2018 summer transfer window from French club OGC Nice for a fee of £1.53 million.
Since then, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £9.45 million according to Transfermarkt, has gone on to make 91 appearances for Thomas Frank’s side, scoring 28 goals and providing 27 assists along the way.
The 2019/20 season saw Benrahma in hot form for his club, making a total of 46 appearances in which he managed to score 17 goals and provide nine assists for his teammates. The Algerian’s performances in those appearances earned him a season rating of 7.49/10, making him Brentford’s highest-rated player for the season (per WhoScored).
Should Villa try and sign Benrahma again this summer?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
Looking at how Benrahma performed for Brentford last season, Dean Smith will likely be kicking himself that Villa weren’t able to sign the winger last summer.
However, with Brentford failing to beat Fulham in the play-off final earlier in the week, Villa could potentially reignite their interest in the winger this summer and try to get him again in the coming weeks.