According to reports, Aston Villa are eyeing a move for West Ham United’s failed winger Robert Snodgrass. The Scottish international managed to stay up by moving to the London club from Hull City last winter but has failed to make any such impact. Villa are keen to land the winger but will find it difficult to make a permanent deal owing to the financial fair play implications.
Xia, the chairman and CEO of Villa, who is known for being vocal on such transfer speculations was quick to play down reports of any development whatsoever but Steve Bruce remains a keen admirer of the player. While he was with the Tigers, Snodgrass was one of his prime players and now with a do or die season ahead of him, Bruce wants him to lead the charge.
The Hammers’ boss Slaven Bilic had splurged £10.5 million to land him last January as he was largely expected to fill the void left by Dimitri Payet at London Stadium. But, the player could hardly make any impact making just 15 appearances, with eight of those coming from the bench. He failed to score in any of the game with the fans turning against him.
And now with the Hammers getting in the likes of Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic up front to add to the likes of Manuel Lanzini, Andy Carroll and Sofiane Feghouli, Snodgrass’ time seems to be over. Bilic may want him as a bench player but with the World Cup coming up next year, the player wouldn’t want to remain away from the spotlight.
Aston Villa have tried signing him on previous occasions across two separate transfer windows, but nothing materialized. And as far as this summer is concerned, the outcome is likely to remain unchanged. Villa have concerns of violating the FFP rules meaning they would first need to take him on a temporary loan deal with a permanent deal at the end. Villa, otherwise, could let go of the likes of Tommy Elphick, Gary Gardner and Ross McCormack to spend further.
The youth product of Scottish side Livingston FC, Snodgrass made his first big move to Leeds United in 2008 after a short loan stint with Stirling. He was quite impressive for them following which Norwich City bought him in their Premier League promotion year in 2012. However, the Canaries couldn’t survive the competition in the top flight for long and Hull City got him two years later when they got promoted.
Having played quite a number of games for both the tiers in England, Snodgrass has visibly been more successful with the lower clubs, which is a positive for Villa who are willing to add two or three more players this summer.
