Aston Villa have been one of the most proactive clubs in the Premier League when it comes to signing new players over the past few years.

However, not every transfer deal which gets mentioned with the Villans ends up coming to fruition.

One example of this which will now be seen as a lucky escape for the club is when they were linked with a move for Milot Rashica before he joined Norwich City from Werder Bremen in a deal worth a reported £9.4m last summer.

Since joining the Norfolk club, the Kosovan - who was praised for taking a "massive leap" in terms of his progression on the pitch by his former boss Florian Kohfeldt - has made 23 appearances for the Canaries in the league but has only scored one goal and provided two assists along the way.

In addition to his lack of consistent goal contributions, the attacker - who is currently picking up £34k-p/w according to Salary Sport, has earned himself an overall performance rating of just 6.48/10, making him the ninth-highest rated player in Norwich's squad according to WhoScored.

Back in December 2019, Transfermarkt had the winger's market value listed at £31.5m, the highest it has been throughout his career so far. It now stands at just £7.2m, showing a massive decrease of 77% in little over two years.

With reports suggesting that the Norwich dud actually rejected a move to Villa due to concerns about their ability to remain in the Premier League, it seems this may have come back to bite him as the Canaries are currently rock bottom of the table with just 17 points from 29 league games.

Taking all this into account, it's safe to say that the Villans and Johan Lange had a lucky escape by not fully pursuing Rashica's signature when they were linked with him. Based on what he's done for Norwich this season, it's hard to see what the 25-year-old would have had to offer at Villa Park if he had made the move there instead.

Also, with January recruit Philippe Coutinho scoring four goals and providing three assists in just nine league games since his arrival, it's hard to think that anyone at the Midlands club will since have had too many thoughts about the former Werder Bremen ace, who could well be spending the next campaign in the Championship.

In other news: Lange could seal his next Coutinho as Villa eye up "relentless" £22.5m-rated "machine"