Aston Villa had a rather busy end to their latest summer transfer window as they secured deals for two Premier League players in the shape of Leander Dendoncker and Jan Bednarek.
However, another player in the division that the Villans were linked with that we feel the club and Johan Lange should be kicking themselves over not signing is Conor Gallagher.
Last season saw the 22-year-old spend the season on loan with Crystal Palace, during which he scored eight goals and provided three assists in 34 league appearances.
In fact, one of those goals was described as “outrageous” by podcaster Dan Cook on Twitter, which highlights the attacking talent he has.
The midfielder also proved himself to be a very useful figure in a defensive sense, as he made more successful pressures (222) than any other Palace player, and only saw Tyrick Mitchell (54) make more successful tackles than him (44) throughout the campaign.
Bearing in mind how only AFC Bournemouth (34) have had fewer shots at goal this season than Villa (56), and the fact that only five clubs have faced more shots on target than Steven Gerrard’s side (29), it’s safe to say that having a player like Gallagher in their ranks, would surely have benefited the team from an attacking and defensive sense.
Taking all of this into account, we feel that Villa should have secured the Englishman’s signature on deadline day when they had the chance, as his clear talents on the pitch could have been a big boost for Gerrard.
Moving forward, even though the former Palace loan star has started three of the five Premier League appearances he’s made for Chelsea this season and is yet to find out what his role will be under new manager Graham Potter, if the opportunity to sign the midfielder arises again in January, this is something Villa and Lange should be all over once the window opens.
