Aston Villa showed an interest in Abel Hernandez after suffering relegation to the Championship in 2016, but their pursuit of the now 30-year-old fell through due to financial demands and he stayed at Hull City until 2018.
Keith Wyness, who was Villa’s CEO between 2016 and 2019, explained why Villa did not sign the Uruguayan, revealing that his agent Mino Raiola requested too much money for his client. He told Jude’s Journey:
He was a striker who we did like. It was around the same time that we got Kodjia, who ended up doing well for us. Hernandez was with the agent Mino Raiola – who is quite famous. Mino got on the phone to me the first day and said ‘it’s all about the money’.
He was asking for about £90k-per-week and that was way out of the ballpark in terms of what we were prepared to do in the Championship. Raiola made it so expensive because he knew that the player would be coming out of contract (but the) deal never went forward.
Villa ended up signing Jonathan Kodjia from Bristol City and the 31-year-old went on to make 106 appearances in all competitions, scoring 31 goals and supplying nine assists. He was a regular in the team as Villa returned to the Premier League in 2019 before being sold to Al-Gharafa SC in January 2020.
As for Hernandez, the Uruguay international scored 39 goals and supplied 10 assists in 110 games for Hull between 2014 and 2018. He now plays for Brazilian Serie A side Internacional.
READ ASTON VILLA VERDICT
Hernandez would have been a good asset for Villa, but the amount of money being requested was unacceptable. Kodjia ended up being a good acquisition for the Claret and Blues, so the decision to say no to Hernandez was the right one.
The club had to trim the wage bill following relegation rather than add to it, so Raiola was wasting his time with Villa.
