Aston Villa still has an outside chance of lifting the Premier League title aloft this season.
Of course, it does look extremely unrealistic, as Mikel Arteta’s formidable Arsenal continue to power home to victories, but Unai Emery’s Villans only remain seven points off the top-flight summit, despite falling short to ten-man Brentford last time out.
With the added ammunition of Tammy Abraham now on Villa’s side, after a spectacular £18.2m reunion was sealed in the bumper transfer window just gone, Emery and Co. are in a good position to maintain their grip on third spot in the standings, and hope for even more.
Of course, not every transfer has worked in recent years relating to the West Midlands giants, with Evann Guessand sticking out as a notable flop, after he moved onto Crystal Palace towards the final hours of the window.
How Guessand flopped at Villa
For every unbelievable capture like Morgan Rogers joining the Villa Park ranks for around the £15m mark, the Premier League titans have also fallen victim to a blunder or two in the transfer department.
Guessand certainly fits into this latter category, with the weighty £30m splashed out on the Ivorian’s services just last summer, now looking to be a rash waste of cash.
There would have been some eyebrows raised when Villa initially went in for the 22-year-old’s services, considering he only had 21 goals next to his name from 109 appearances at former employers OGC Nice. But Emery has managed to get so much more out of several recruits over the years, with Rogers now a £100m-calibre talent under his wing.
He, unfortunately, couldn’t work his magic on Guessand, though, with the 19-time Ivory Coast international only going on to two goals for Villa from 21 appearances, before Palace went in for his services dramatically towards the close of the window.
The Eagles will hope they can unearth a diamond from the rough in the unpolished 22-year-old, who amazingly is yet to break his top-flight duck, with both his efforts for Emery’s men falling in Europa League action.
Getting rid of Guessand hasn’t completely wiped away all the flops currently in the Spaniard’s ranks, however, with another problem still irking Emery.
Aston Villa’s next Guessand
Guessand wasn’t the only notable attacking departure during a whirlwind window, with Donyell Malen also being moved out to AS Roma in a last-gasp switch.
In another reality, Emery would have also been pleased to get Harvey Elliott off his books, with his loan move to Villa Park just not working whatsoever, in another Guessand-style flop.
On the surface, just like when the 22-year-old attacker first made the move from France to England a reality, picking up Elliott on loan would have been seen as a standout signing that would gift Villa some added depth and quality, with the brand-new Villa number nine a two-time Premier League title winner with parent side Liverpool.
Along the way, Elliott had also managed to collect 15 goals and 20 assists playing across a whole host of positions for the Reds, leading to the young Englishman being dubbed as a “fearless” talent to work alongside by ex-boss Jurgen Klopp. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t fit in at Villa Park, much like the recently departed Ivorian.
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Elliott’s overall numbers for Villa |
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|---|---|
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Stat |
Elliott |
|
Games played |
7 |
|
Minutes played |
270 mins |
|
Goals scored |
1 |
|
Assists |
0 |
|
Sourced by Transfermarkt |
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That’s the case despite Elliott’s verve and trickery from the midfield spots, once making him an “outrageous” sight to behold, as per the praise of scout Jacek Kulig, with only 13 minutes of Premier League action afforded to him since the end of September.
Even when he was handed more of a run-out in the Europa League against RB Salzburg, he did very little to try and stake a claim to a more permanent starting spot, with zero key passes and zero on-target efforts next to his name, which is why he looks like a major flop.
Guessand was given more chances to impress under Emery, before being pushed out, with six Premier League starts coming his way this season, but only one abject assist would be tallied up by the now Palace loanee.
While Guessand has, at least, been handed an exit route to try and revitalise his waning Premier League career, Elliott’s Villa nightmare didn’t end during the window, with the deal going down as an even bigger waste of time and money than Guessand’s switch, based on his current bleak narrative.
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