Aston Villa missed out on the signing of Baptiste Santamaria from Angers in the January transfer window, per Sevilla.ABC.
What’s the word?
Villa attempted to strike a deal in the winter window, making a €10m (£9.1m) bid for the midfielder.
However, that was swiftly rejected and the report now states that he will cost a significantly higher fee in the summer.
ABC Sevilla claim that he has been labelled “the white Kante”, having been compared to Chelsea ace N’Golo Kante, and he has been helping Angers to a fine season in Ligue 1; they are currently 10th.
Did he really play for us?! No Villa fan has managed to name all of these obscure Villans….
Kicking himself
Suso, Villa’s sporting director, will be kicking himself for missing out on a talent like Santamaria.
He averages 3.3 tackles per game, per WhoScored, along with 1.5 interceptions, 1.2 clearances, along with 1.1 dribbles, and 0.5 key passes.
He is close to a complete midfielder and Santamaria could well have slotted into Villa’s midfield as they battle against relegation from the Premier League. After all, his tackling stats surpass that of both Marvelous Nakamba and Douglas Luiz.
Together, the duo have made a combined 3.5 tackles which just goes to show how big an influence they’re missing by failing to land Santamaria.
As it is, he is more likely to be heading to a bigger club if he does depart, purely because of the finances involved.
Unfortunately, Villa appear to have missed the boat, one capable of potentially bolstering their bid to stay in the division.
Meanwhile, this Villa ace remains horribly underrated!
