Aston Villa are looking to strengthen their attack before the January transfer window shuts and have shown an interest in Jesse Lingard, Emiliano Buendía, Fabio Baptista and Milot Rashica this season, but Alex Crook of talkSPORT believes that David Brooks is high on their wish list.
✅ "One player they are keen on is AFC Bournemouth's David Brooks."
💰 "It would need a big bid to persuade the Cherries to sell Brooks."
👍 "This would be a show of ambition and proof they mean business."@Alex_Crook says #AVFC want to sign #AFCB's David Brooks. pic.twitter.com/1WO5nkI5gT
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) January 14, 2021
Dean Smith doesn’t appear to be short of attacking midfield options with Jack Grealish, Anwar El Ghazi, Bertrand Traore and Trezeguet at his disposal. However, Grealish is a regular in a central role while El Ghazi and Traore occupy the flanks, so Trezeguet is the only backup available.
The 26-year-old is yet to score and only has two assists in 10 games while being sidelined with various injuries since the end of November, so he has not been reliable this season. Villa could do with bringing in an upgrade for Trezeguet and Brooks would fit the bill.
The Cherries winger has scored three goals, supplied five assists, created 23 chances, had 16 successful dribbles and whipped in 32 crosses from 17 Championship games in 2020/21 (upgrade for Trezeguet) as Bournemouth sit third in the table.
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It’s hard to see the Cherries cashing in on such an important player and Crook believes Villa would have to pay a tidy sum to convince Bournemouth to sell, saying: “It would need a big bid to persuade the Cherries to sell Brooks.”
Back in September, The Sun reported that Brooks’ asking price was £50m, so Villa might have to break their transfer record (Ollie Watkins – £27.7m) to sign him.
Given the vast fee which would likely be involved, this move sounds like it would be purely hypothetical.
