Aston Villa may rue the fact they weren’t able to tempt Omar Elabdellaoui to join them in the summer transfer window.
What was the story?
Reports suggested that Dean Smith’s side were very much interested in signing the 29-year-old right-back, who had left Greek outfit Olympiakos on a free transfer.
However, it was suggested that despite being one of a number of clubs keen on him, Elabdellaoui turned down a potential move to Villa Park, instead opting to join Turkish giants Galatasaray.
Villa of course ended up signing Matty Cash from Championship side Nottingham Forest in a deal worth a reported £16m.
Better than Cash
At just 23, Cash has got all the potentially develop into one of the Premier League’s best right-backs, and may even surpass Elabdellaoui.
But for the here and now, there is no question that the former Olympiacos man would have been the best bet to ensuring Villa landed a top quality full-back that could have given them a couple of years of fantastic service, especially given that Cash has only played in the lower levels of English football.
Elabdellaoui on the other hand has built up considerable experience playing in the big European competitions, and was a key part of an Olympiacos side that dumped Arsenal out of the Europa League last season – Villa of course will be taking on the Gunners this coming Sunday.
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As per SofaScore, in the second leg that the Greek side ultimately triumphed in, Elabdellaoui played the full 120 minutes, making five clearances, recording 71 touches, and sending in two crosses.
The biggest work he did on the night however was nullifying Arsenal star Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang down the flank, with the Gabon international proving to be the culprit as he missed a gilt-edged chance in the dying seconds of the match to save the game for the Gunners.
The fact that Villa could have got him on a free transfer this summer just makes it all the more painful that they couldn’t convince him to move to England.