Aston Villa journalist James Rushton has been sharing his thoughts on whether or not the club should try and sign a new winger during the upcoming January transfer window.
This comes after Rushton recently made an appearance on the Birmingham Mail’s Claret & Blue Podcast to talk about all things related to Villa.
On the topic of the January window, Rushton was asked if he thinks Villa should look to bring in a new player, to which he gave this response.
He said: “I feel like maybe you do [sign a new player], if you were looking at [Milot] Rashica, [Said] Benrahma, you probably do need another winger I guess, because I don’t think anyone has faith in [Anwar] El Ghazi anymore, the poor lad, I don’t think when he’s on the bench and he’s coming off, no one really wants to see that.
“I think he did well in a Villa shirt, but I think the times have changed now really, really quickly for him, but maybe another winger, not a starting winger, but someone with the ability to improve who isn’t at youth level but probably needs a chance something about there, maybe the El Ghazi that we need now rather than the El Ghazi that we had in the past.”
As Rushton mentioned in the podcast, Villa were linked with potential moves for Milot Rashica and Said Benrahma but failed to secure any deals for the wingers over the summer, though they did manage to sign Bertrand Traore from Lyon.
As well as Traore, Villa also managed to sign Matty Cash, Emiliano Martinez and Ollie Watkins on permanent deals whilst securing Ross Barkley on a season-long loan.
So far in this campaign, Villa have won five out of their first seven Premier League games, beating the likes of Liverpool, Leicester City and Arsenal along the way (per Transfermarkt).
Rushton also mentioned Anwar El Ghazi’s current situation at Villa this season. In the Premier League, El Ghazi has only made one appearance for Dean Smith’s side in coming off the bench for a two-minute cameo in their 3-0 win over Arsenal.
However, El Ghazi did play in all three of Villa’s Carabao Cup games before they were knocked out of the competition by Stoke City back in October.
Do you think Villa should sign a new winger in January?
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TIF Thoughts on Rushton’s comments on Villa potentially signing a new winger…
Given how Rushton seems to think that some people at Villa have lost faith in El Ghazi, it may not be a total surprise if we then see the Villans try and sign a new winger in January and look to move the Dutchman out of the club.
Looking at Villa’s impressive start to the season, it would be understandable if Smith felt that his squad is adequate at this moment in time and that they don’t need to sign a new player just yet.
However, there is still some time before January which could potentially see one of their players get injured for an extended amount of time which could then force the club into making a signing this coming winter.
In our view, Villa should maybe give El Ghazi, who is valued at £7.2 million (Transfermarkt), a proper opportunity to perform in the Premier League before deciding if they want to add a new winger to their squad in January to avoid the risk of potentially wasting money in a season where mere survival would surely be considered a success given their close call last season.