Wesley Moraes has been sidelined with a serious knee injury since January of last year, Mbwana Samatta is on loan at Fenerbahce and Keinan Davis has been short of form and playing time this season, so Aston Villa need a striker to take the scoring burden off Ollie Watkins.
The Villans have been linked with Josh King, Odsonne Edouard, Mario Mandzukic, Ivan Toney and Divock Origi, but it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll bring in another centre-forward before deadline day on Monday.
Gregg Evans of The Athletic was asked in a Q&A whether Villa planned to sign a striker before the January transfer window shut and responded: “Not that I’ve heard.
“If something happens it will be a surprise, and a move that has been decided late on. My understanding is that they will give Wesley the chance when he’s fit.”
Read Aston Villa suggested that Louie Barry should be given another opportunity in the first team after scoring in January’s FA Cup defeat to Liverpool, but Dean Smith hasn’t included him in a matchday squad since.
The manager stuck with Davis, who has scored just one goal since August 2019 and has amassed a mere 48 minutes of Premier League football this season, as the only centre-forward backup to Watkins, who has played every minute of every league game in 2020/21. Therefore, Villa are hugely gambling on his fitness while Wesley continues his recovery.
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Villa might regret not bringing in a striker this month, as there’s no guarantee that Wesley will hit the ground running when he returns – the 24-year-old has been out for more than a year.
Watkins will likely need a break at some point this season, too, but Smith doesn’t have viable backup he can trust in his absence. Things are manageable now, but will it last?
