Aston Villa have undoubtedly become a powerful force in the transfer market over the past few years when it comes to spending money.

However, as tends to be the case with a lot of clubs, they don't always end up securing the signature of every reported target they get linked with.

One player, in particular, that the Villans were linked with in recent memory that they didn't end up bringing to Villa Park is striker Krzysztof Piatek.

Back in the 2020 January transfer window, Villa were said to be in the race to sign the Polish centre-forward, who has been described as being "the complete package" by former

Genoa manager Davide Ballardini, when he was at AC Milan.

The striker, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £82k-per-week according to Salary Sport, eventually signed to Hertha Berlin towards the end of that January window in a deal worth a reported fee of €23m (£19.4m).

In 58 appearances for the German club across all competitions, the 26-year-old only managed to score 13 goals and provide four assists before returning to Italy in the previous January window on a loan deal with Fiorentina where he'll be staying until the end of the current season.

Back in June 2019, just a few months before Villa's reported interest in the striker came to light, Transfermarkt rated his market value at £31.5m, the highest it's been throughout his career, whereas it now stands at just £10.8m, highlighting a significant drop of 70% as a result of his uninspiring time in Germany.

Taking all of this into account, it's not beyond the realms of reason to suggest that Villa owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris made the right decision not securing the signing of Piatek when the club were linked with him.

With current Villa duo Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings scoring 12 goals between them in the Premier League this season, it's hard to think that many supporters would be having any thoughts about the Poland international at this moment in time.

In other news: Sold for £6.25m, now worth £19.8m: Villa had a howler on "gifted" £91k-p/w "machine"