Conor Hourihane left Aston Villa in January and joined Swansea City on a season-long loan after struggling for playing time under Dean Smith this season.
The 30-year-old’s long-term future at Villa Park is uncertain as Jacob Ramsey has risen through the youth ranks to the first team while Morgan Sanson joined from Marseille, so Hourihane might not make another appearance in the Midlands.
He previously praised Swansea manager Steve Cooper for the positive talks held before his eventual move to the Liberty Stadium and now revealed the moment that made up his mind to leave Villa.
Hourihane told the Southern Star podcast: “It was when we played Wolves away. Ross (Barkley) was injured and the gaffer played Jacob Ramsey ahead of me, the young lad from the academy which I was very disappointed with. That was probably the moment where I thought, ‘I’m going to struggle here a little bit moving forward’.
“Ever since then I haven’t played at all with Jacob in front of me. (He’s) a very good player with a lot of talent, but I thought it was a harsh decision on myself at the time. The gaffer actually came out afterwards and said it was probably harsh to leave me out. That was the trigger for me to think I might be in a little bit of trouble here.”
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Hourihane refers to December’s 1-0 win over Wolves on December 12. He had featured in Villa’s previous two Premier League games at that point but was dropped to the bench at Molineux. Smith did admit that the decision was unfair on the 30-year-old, but he hasn’t even featured for Villa since, whereas Ramsey has made five league appearances since that game.
Hourihane only managed four appearances in the Premier League this term before joining Swansea, so his decision to leave was justified. The Republic of Ireland international has since gone on to score two goals in his first two games for the Swans, so he’s landed on his feet.
