Aston Villa striker Scott Hogan has fallen down the pecking order at Villa Park and has played just 32 minutes of football ever since Dean Smith took in charge of the club. It is surprising to see the striker struggle as Hogan used to play under Smith previously when both of them were at Brentford. Amidst all this, Hogan got linked (Portsmouth News) with a move to Portsmouth. However, manager Kenny Jackett recently claimed that they are not looking do business with the Championship outfit regarding the striker.
Jackett was quoted as saying, ”Hogan is not one we have enquired about.
“I have spoken to the Aston Villa people with regards to Andre (Green) in the last week or so about calling him back, but he (Hogan) is not one we have gone for. I don’t know what his wages are, I believe he went for £9m (from Brentford).”
The striker has played just an hour of football in six Championship appearances this season, and the 26-year old’s situation looks grim at the moment. Signed in January of 2017, Hogan’s contract runs until 2021, and we don’t really see him having any significant impact in the first team in the second half of the season.
It seems to us that the Pompey manager has been deterred by the price tag and wage situation of the striker. Just two years back, the striker was signed by the Villans for a fee of £12m (BBC). Given that, we don’t think Villa would want to let him leave for cheap after just two years at the club. Therefore Jackett played down Portsmouth’s chances of landing the striker.
Portsmouth are seemingly doing well in the League One as they top the table and are on track to move to the Championship by next season. The Pompey have three out and out strikers in the form of Brett Pitman, Oliver Hawkins and Louis Dennis.
However, the three haven’t scored goals freely, and all of them combined have 11 goals to their name this season. Jamal Lowe who is predominantly a winger has led the line more often than not, and the 24-year-old has ten goals to his name. Therefore it seems clear that Jackett isn’t too confident of his strike options as he is using a wide player up front.
Spending big money to land Hogan wouldn’t have made sense as he has struggled this season and has failed to establish himself in the Villa lineup. The Pompey’s, on the other hand, are already doing well in the League One and it wouldn’t have made sense for them to bring in a striker who could be low on confidence and lacking game time. The team needs a striker, but Hogan wouldn’t have come in for cheap. Jackett has made the right call here by denying interest for the Irish forward.
