Dean Smith has revealed that the £20 million fee demanded by Brentford for striker Neal Maupay was too much, with the forward set to line up against Villa for Brighton this weekend.
Maupay, who played under Smith at Brentford, was reportedly a striker target for Villa throughout the entire summer, but the price was seemingly too high for Smith.
Speaking ahead of the clash against the seagulls, via the Birmingham Mail, Smith said:
Neal was a lad I brought into Brentford. I think it was for £2million. He spent a couple of seasons with us.
He’s a good lad who I get on really well with, a good player but, again, the market value of the players was growing and growing.
I felt we had to walk (away) as a football club at the stage it got to. He ended up going to Brighton and good luck to him. He’s scored a few goals already, he’s a good kid and hopefully he has a dry spell on Saturday.
Read Aston Villa’s verdict
With Villa reportedly still after a £20 million striker in January, then the decision not to sign Maupay could be viewed as a mistake.
However, with the player not having played a minute of Premier League football before Brighton spent the money to sign him, it was a huge risk to splash so much cash on him.
The French forward already has three goals to his name and will be hoping to net against his former side this weekend.
