Aston Villa podcaster Neil Dunworth has been sharing his thoughts on Mbwana Samatta and his time as a Villa player after it was recently announced that he had joined Turkish club Fenerbahce on loan until the end of the season with a permanent four-year deal at the club waiting for him next summer.
This comes after Dunworth recently hosted the latest episode of Villa-themed podcast For The Love Of Paul McGrath where he spoke about a number of topics concerning the Birmingham club at this moment in time.
On the subject of Samatta and his departure from Villa Park, Dunworth had this to say on the player and his time in England.
He said: “I think maybe just the robust nature of the league itself affected him, [he had a] great goalscoring record in Belgium and stuff like that and I’m sure he’s going to go on and have a great goalscoring record in Fenerbahce, but it’s different in the Premier League and I think he’s just a victim of that – also a victim of a team that we’re playing in themselves, a team that was playing within their shells to try and not lose games, I think, at the end of the season.
“While I’m not going to put all the blame at his door, I’m going to say that maybe the style of where the club were didn’t exactly suit him for what maybe he needed and the creativity that was needed for him, but I wish him all the best at Fenerbahce.”
Villa signed Samatta back in the previous January transfer window from KRC Genk for a fee of £9.45 million. During his time at the club, the 27-year-old only managed to score two goals in 16 appearances for Dean Smith’s side across all competitions.
One of his two goals for the club came during Villa’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in the previous Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium earlier this year.
Should Villa have kept Samatta in their squad for this season?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
Given how Samatta only managed to score a couple of goals since he arrived at Villa, it’s not really a surprise that the Birmingham club have allowed the striker to move away from the club.
Hopefully, Samatta can settle in Turkey and get his career back on track after a disappointing spell at Villa.