Danny Ings has been linked with a move away from Aston Villa after a difficult debut season and Paddy Kenny believes there may have been a falling out behind the scenes.
The 29-year-old made 31 appearances in all competitions this campaign, scoring seven goals with six assists. He started 22 Premier League games from a possible 38 (58%), amassing 1905 minutes of football from 3420 (55.7%).
Ollie Watkins was first choice in attack under Dean Smith and Steven Gerrard, but Ings failed to forge a successful partnership with him – the England international has averaged one shot on target every 106 minutes and is only finding the back of the net every seven shots.
It wouldn’t be the biggest shock to see him sold after a poor campaign, but Kenny questions if there had been an issue with management. He told Football Insider: “You wonder if something has happened behind closed doors if he has been transfer listed.
“They have already signed a number of players and I’m sure they have the money to go out and get a few more. Who that will be, I don’t know. No matter what happens, they will want to get someone in before they let him go. You could do a lot worse than Ings, so it is a bit of a surprise, that one.”
Ings set Villa back £26.5m in the summer of 2021, but it’s hard to see the Midlands outfit getting all that money back. Ings will turn 30 in July and has a lower stock after a poor campaign at Villa, so Gerrard might struggle to offload him.
In other news, Jed Steer could leave Aston Villa after Robin Olsen is confirmed
