The Athletic’s Aston Villa correspondent Gregg Evans has recently discussed the Villans’ stance on bringing in reinforcements up front.
During the summer transfer window, Dean Smith added one striker to his squad in the form of Ollie Watkins, who joined from Brentford for £27.72m (per Transfermarkt).
In the summer before, Villa forked out £22.5m to seal the arrival of Brazilian striker Wesley from Belgian outfit Club Brugge.
Those two additions have left Smith with three players in his first-team squad as out-and-out strikers, with Wesley and Watkins alongside Keinan Davis.
During the latest episode of The Athletic’s 1874 podcast, Evans discussed the club’s stance on whether or not they have to make additions up front.
He said: “I think the thinking at Villa is that they don’t need a striker right now because Wesley deserves his shot, they paid £22m for him – he was the record signing.
“His numbers were slowly starting to stack up before he got injured over a year ago. So, if he can come back and do a job, it’s £22m invested.
“The most sensible option for Villa will be to go and get another loan striker and probably send Keinan Davis out on loan.
“Then, you’ve got maybe a nice mix of Watkins, Wesley and the loan player – but whether that will happen or not, I’m not sure.”
TIF Thoughts on what Gregg Evans said about Villa’s striking options…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, he believes that Smith’s side will not sign a striker but they should get one in on loan and send Davis out for some experience.
Do Aston Villa need to sign a striker before the window closes?
No, it's not essential
Yes, it is crucial
With Smith having deployed Villa in a 4-2-3-1 formation for the majority of the games in the Premier League this season (per Transfermarkt), having three natural strikers would seemingly be enough.
So, if Davis does get sent out on loan by Aston Villa, then hopefully, as Evans suggested, another option is brought in on loan.
However, with Wesley having bagged a fairly respectable 6.76/10 average rating after netting five goals in 21 league appearances last term (per WhoScored), it seems he is a capable option.
Hopefully, though, he can kick on from that level of performance when he returns to action from his recent long-term injury.