Villa’s 2019 former club record signing Wesley looks set to make a move back to Brazil after a loan move in Belgium delivered just 7 outings, without a goal.
The £22 million pound purchase has endured a torrid rehabilitation following a horror tackle at Turf Moor on New Years Day last year. The ACL injury inflicted on the day, a game in which the 25 year old scored, saw an almost 2 year absence.
Villa look also to have moved on, with the squad and manager now taking a different direction to the side looking to retain Premier League status after promotion from the Championsip in 2019.
Indeed, Villa have moved on significantly in the striking department, again breaking the budget to firstly add Ollie Watkins last season, before Danny Ings arrived from Southampton in the summer.
The 35k p/week striker is reported to be on the radar of Sao Paulo, with Villa presumably looking the cut their losses at this point.
If the move proceeds, then it will draw to a close a Villa career that barely got going. Wesley took time to adjust, but demonstrated he could be predatory in front of goal. A cool finish in front of a raucous Villa Park crowd to defeat Everton comes to mind particularly.
We mustn’t overlook the fact that this was far from a classic Villa side either. Wesley did appear clumsy at times, and struggled as much as his team-mates in trying to keep the club in the division. With that said, Wesley was missing from the remainder of the campaign, hastily replaced by the impotent Aly Samatta, perhaps illustrating both his potential and what we might’ve come to better appreciate in time.
Speculative reports across social media indicate that if the move from Villa to Sao Paulo takes place, that Wesley would command a transfer fee in the region of £15m.
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