The outlook had been ominous for Mbwana ‘Ally’ Samatta with the Tanzanian striker, conspicuous by his absence from Villa’s early season squads.
At 27, Samatta was a desperate roll of the dice and cheque-book in January 2020 as Villa rocked against the back-drop of Wesley’s New Years Day horror injury.
Perhaps symptomatic of a number of hasty acquisitions made under then Sporting Director Jesus Garcia Pitarch, Samatta rapidly looked ill-equipped for the Premier League, let alone the survival scrap that the club found itself within.
There were glimpses of promise and it wasn’t all Samatta’s fault. The former Genk striker scored on his debut, but that game in particular, saw Bournemouth complete the double for the season over Villa.
Samatta’s only other Villa goal would come in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley against Manchester City (2-1). This great diving header would be his final strike for Villa.
Post lockdown, as Villa urgently needed movement and threat up front he cut a figure way out of his depth.
The reports have been swirling for weeks now that the first Tanzanian to play in the English top flight would be on his way. With links to both Galatasary and closer to home West Brom, it has today been confirmed that he has joined Fenerbahce.
The striker joins initially on a loan for the remainder of the season, with the view to a permanent deal being concluded.
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Bye bye Samatta, we barely knew ye. He definitely didn’t look comfortable after lockdown and struggled to adapt to both the pace of the Premiership and our playing style. Watkins is definitely our first choice now, and Davis has made a good claim to be back up. With Wesley still to return as well, it makes sense to give Samatta the chance to go and get first team action elsewhere., especially as we still may add further reinforcements before the window shuts.
Best of luck to Samatta, I expect to see him banging in goals in Turkey!
Why is your headline 9.3 million euros down the drain?
It didn’t work out, nice bloke, all the best to him. He’s gone on loan with an obligation to buy, with media outlets quoting between £5.5 to £6.2 million. For a guy that scored one premier league goal, that’s a tasty bit of business by the Villa.
Not a reflection on the person at all – wish him well. Merely pointing out that Villa have turned €9.3 million Euro / £8.5m into at best a 2/3 return in barely 9 months.
Not really down the drain, if they’ve confirmed they are paying 7.5 mil, so 1 mil less than we paid! But yeah negative click bait headlines will get you more traffic bravo!
Given the original outlay and that any deal (only rising up to £5.5m in return) will be heavily incentivised – it is a case of mitigating Villa’s financial loss on the original fee. This doesn’t also take into account wages.