Aston Villa have signed three players from Brentford since 2017 – Scott Hogan (January 2017), Ezri Konsa (July 2019) and Ollie Watkins (September 2020) – two of whom joined after Dean Smith was Dean Smith in October 2018.
One other Bees player with whom Smith was consistently linked was Said Benrahma. The 25-year-old scored 10 goals and supplied 15 assists in 2018/19 and recorded 17 goals and 10 assists last term (Transfermarkt), so there was a lot of Premier League interest over the summer.
Smith briefly managed Benrahma before making the switch to Villa Park and admitted to considering a move for the 25-year-old more recently, but he told Birmingham Live that Jack Grealish was the best option on the left wing.
The 49-year-old said of the now-West Ham winger: “He’s one we looked at, but I see Jack Grealish on the left and there’s not many people who will get ahead of him, if any. He was certainly one of the best signings at Brentford for the money we got him for.”
Villa brought in Bertrand Traore in September to compliment Grealish, Anwar El Ghazi and Trezeguet while West Ham ended up signing Benrahma, and the Algerian international will come up against his former manager when Villa lock horns with the Londoners tonight.
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Benrahma only has two assists in 14 games for the Hammers while Grealish boasts seven goals and 11 assists in 20 games this season, so Smith clearly made the right choice trusting his captain.
However, he will no doubt he hoping that his former Brentford colleague doesn’t come back to bite him tonight.
