After Rudy Gestede made the move to the other side of the tier, Aston Villa want to get their preferred forward from Middlesbrough. However, Boro won’t let that happen all that easily as they have reportedly rejected a bid tabled by Steve Bruce for their unused striker Jordan Rhodes.
Villa have reportedly tabled an offer of £6m, potentially rising to £10m with add-ons for the Championship star, but Boro are taking the exact route that Villa took during the sale of Gestede. Villa had bought Gestede for £6m two season back in 2015 and recouped the full amount while selling him to the Riverside.
Boro are also determined to get back the full £9m they had spend to get Rhodes a year ago, and Villa will have to come back with a better offer to land him. Boro are willing to drag the sale right till the end of the transfer window to extract a higher fee.
And Villa have to make it fast because teams like Newcastle United and Celtic are also queuing up for the striker. However, a concerning factor for Bruce would be the Financial Fair Play rules after the club spent significantly last summer.
Villa have really struggled to find the back of the net this season and their problems have doubled with top-scorer Jonathan Kodjia away at AFCON. They have found the net on five occasions in the last nine games and are in dire need of a quality striker.
With owner Tony Xia, committing 30 million pounds to the winter transfer kitty, Bruce might have to offload some players from his congested squad, like Jordan Ayew and Ross McCormack, to land Rhodes.
And a move for Rhodes could definitely be worth sacrificing two forwards. A tried and tested striker in the Championship, Rhodes has a brilliant record in the second tier of English football. He played a good role in taking Boro to the Premier League last season and his failure to make any impact up there make him one of those Championship specialists, if not a suitable Premier League option.
He has over 300 appearances in the second tier of English football where he has netted 172 goals so far. He could be the ideal option for Bruce to take them to the playoffs and possibly to the other side. Villa area currently 13th in the Championship table and are separated from the top half of the table by a very small gap. A good display in the second half could definitely see them through.
