Scott Hogan’s Villa career, let’s face it, rarely looked like taking off at Villa Park.
The big money signing (£12m) from Brentford, struggled for goals and anything that resembled form at Villa. Given the exorbitant fee and wages the striker was signed on by the previous regime, it’s no wonder that he’s been forced to repeatedly atttempt to resurrect his career out on loan.
Predictably uneventful spells at Sheffield United and Stoke was followed by a brief upturn in fortunes whilst at St Andrews. However, despite bagging 7 goals after joining Birmingham City, Hogan had little success in front of goal with the Championship’s resumption post-lockdown. It has not yet been confirmed whether Blues will retire the number 40 shirt either.
Hogan finds himself back at Villa and isn’t conceivably in Dean Smith’s plans as the club looks to kick on following a relegation near miss last term. Indeed, given our extremely limited return in terms of goals from our striker’s it was perhaps a surprise in retrospect not to have seen him recalled…then again.
A surprise link comes from the generally reliable Telegraph, who report that Hogan could be on his way to recently relegated Bournemouth. Any deal could make him Jason Tindall’s first signing as Cherries manager.
Whilst Hogan did score goals in a Brentford side managed by Smith, it would be remiss to suggest he has been prolific aside from that spell and a season at Rochdale. There is also some similarity in where Bournemouth find themselves now, exactly where Villa were. Hogan might be able to score goals at Championship level, but he didn’t look like firing Villa out of the division anytime soon.
The eye-brow raising angle on the report is that Callum Wilson could come the other way as part of any deal.
Wilson is an interesting striker whom many would reasonably agree was an upgrade on Hogan. The 28 year old, capped by England just last year, did however have a disappointing 2019/20 campaign, netting just 7 times in 35 outings.
Arguably Wilson might have something to prove and if nothing else would give Villa another viable striking option and one with fives years of Premier League experience too. It remains to be seen what cash Bournemouth would want for a striker they once slapped a £75 million price-tag on, but it’s reasonable to assume it won’t be anything like that.
Aside from any fee, the major stumbling block is more likely to be Wilson’s eye-watering wages. The striker is on a deal worth £100,000 per week until 2023, with the added risk factor of having suffered two serious knee injuries.
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