Aston Villa’s owners and board members have done their bit to back Steven Gerrard in the transfer market since he was appointed as manager last November.
The summer transfer window saw the Villans splash the cash to sign the likes of Diego Carlos and Leander Dendoncker, along with securing a permanent deal for Philippe Coutinho following his loan spell at the Midlands club.
However, one player who was mentioned with a move to Villa Park to no avail and who we feel could have been Gerrard’s best signing at the club yet is Nabil Fekir.
With 315 appearances to his name between his current club Real Betis and his previous employers Lyon, the 29-year-old has scored 91 goals and delivered 71 assists. Last season saw the Frenchman score six goals and provide eight assists in 34 La Liga games.
He also ended the campaign with more shots at goal (84), shots on target (31), shot-creating actions (161), goal-creating actions (19) and pressures in the attacking third of the pitch (187) than any other player at the Andalucian club.
Hailed as a “tremendous” player by Betis president Angel Haro, Fekir also ended the 2021/22 season with an impressive overall performance rating of 7.38/10, making him the highest-rated player at the club to have started more than one league game according to WhoScored.
This rating would have comfortably put him at the top of Villa’s highest-rated players for the corresponding Premier League campaign, showing how he could have raised standards from the level of players currently at Gerrard’s disposal.
Bearing in mind how the Villans have had a tough start to the current campaign from an attacking point of view, with the second-lowest rate of expected goals (5.3) in the English top flight, having a player like the Betis star in their squad would have surely made Gerrard’s team a deadlier outfit.
All things considered, in our view the Frenchman would have been the 42-year-old’s best signing as Villa manager so far, had the Midlands club pulled it off when they had the chance.
