---
title: "Blog | Ashley Westwood: To Sell or Not to Sell"
canonical: "https://readastonvilla.com/2016/07/12/blog-ashley-westwood-sell-not-sell/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Sheldon Muchmore"
section: "Features & Analysis"
published: "2016-07-12T09:59:11Z"
modified: "2016-07-12T09:59:11Z"
---

# Blog | Ashley Westwood: To Sell or Not to Sell

Any Villa fan who has been paying close attention to all things claret and blue over the past few days will have heard or read that the newly promoted Premier League club Burnley are set to make an offer of £6 million for Villa midfielder Ashley Westwood.

It is believed that Sean Dyche is a big fan of Westwood’s work ethic and feels that he will be an ideal replacement for Joey Barton; who has surprisingly chosen to ply his trade in the SPL instead of the EPL.

Westwood joined the Villans back in 2012 from Crewe and since then he has gone on to make 124 appearances in the claret and blue; scoring 5 goals and providing 11 assists (6 of which were in his first season). It is fair to say that during his time at Villa Park, Westwood has divided opinions among the Villa faithful.

![Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readastonvilla.com/readastonvilla/2016/07/523509152.jpg)

Some fans rate him highly because of his work rate and the fact that they believe that he does his job by keeping the ball moving and by finding his team mates regularly; proven by his 83.5% pass success rate over the past 3 seasons. Those fans that do not rate him counter this by stating that his pass success percentage is high because he only plays the safe pass.

He will play an easy pass sideways or backwards instead of trying to create something by playing a difficult ball forwards. To add to this, these fans believe that his tackling and shooting are below par. With an average of 1.6 tackles per game and 5 goals in 124 matches, it is quite hard to disagree with them. Stats, after all, do not lie.

> YouTube: Ashley Westwood – The Architect – Aston Villa FC – 2015/2016 HD

Regarding my stance on Westwood, I would be inclined to agree with those who do not rate him highly. In my opinion he is a mediocre footballer. I feel that we need someone in the midfield who is always willing to go forward with the ball, is strong in the tackle and knows where the back of the net is. Where we will find such a player, I am not entirely sure. One young

Di Matteo’s stance on Westwood is unclear. Thus, we do not know whether we will be seeing Westwood line up against Sheffield Wednesday in 4 weeks’ time. One thing is for sure though; if I was in Di Matteo’s shoes I would definitely know what I would do.

I would take the £6 million and run…