Aston Villa fans would have hailed the signing of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Axel Witsel as a real coup, says Express & Star journalist Luke Hatfield.

Witsel was linked with a surprise move to Villa at the end of the summer transfer window, with Italian outlet Tuttosport claiming that Juventus, AS Roma and the Midlands club were all interested in signing the Belgian.

Witsel has remained at Dortmund, however, and will now be looking to help Marco Rose's side end Bayern Munich's dominance of the Bundesliga.

Had the 32-year-old signed for Villa, though, Hatfield is certain he would have been a welcome addition.

"Witsel would've obviously fitted into the position Villa probably needed to address," Hatfield told FFC. "But he's not the youngest in the world and he's just coming off a really serious Achilles injury.

"Obviously he would've been an amazing signing for fans and the fans would've been right behind it. On paper, it would always look good, but in practice, I'm not too sure. But Villa fans would've been hailing it as a real coup."

While Villa did not end up bringing in a midfielder like Witsel, you would have to say it was still a pretty successful transfer window for the Premier League outfit.

Yes, they lost Jack Grealish to Manchester City, but they were still able to make significant attacking additions after signing Danny Ings, Emiliano Buendia and Leon Bailey.