Aston Villa's owners have shown in recent years just how capable they are when it comes to spending money in the transfer market and bringing new players to the Midlands club since their arrival back in the Premier League.

However, regrets will surely now be emerging for Villa over one player they failed to secure after they were previously linked in 2020; Said Benrahma.

During his time at Brentford, the Algerian racked up 30 goals and 27 assists in 92 appearances across all competitions before eventually making the move to West Ham United on loan in October 2020.

In the 2021 January transfer window, the east London club secured the winger on a permanent deal for a fee of £20m.

This season has seen the 26-year-old, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £58k-per-week according to Salary Sport, score five goals and provide six assists in 25 league games, earning himself an overall performance rating of 6.87 according to WhoScored.

Benrahma's goal contributions and performance rating both eclipse the number of goal contributions and performance rating that Villa's summer signing Emi Buendia has managed to acquire at this point in the season, with the Argentine having just two goals, four assists and an overall rating of 6.78 to his name, also from 25 league appearances.

In addition to this, the Algerian has created more big chances (19) in the league this season than the current Villa playmaker (7).

To put it simply, Benrahma is a magical player on his day, with Brentford B's assistant coach. Sam Saunders one exclaiming that "he could nutmeg a mermaid."

Having been praised by former West Ham player Michael Owen for his "unplayable" performance for the Hammers against Genk in the Europa League, Benrahma could have been a cheaper option for the Villans than Buendia, who the club splashed out a club-record fee for in the previous summer transfer window.

With the former Brentford star also scoring three goals in seven Europa League games for David Moyes' side in this campaign, he has shown just how useful he is in the Premier League and in their European clashes.

Also, having been deployed in numerous positions across the pitch in this campaign, the £22.5m-rated star has shown what a versatile and reliable attacking option he can be.

Taking all of this into account, it wouldn't be wrong to suggest that Villa's hierarchy could be kicking themselves over having missed out on signing Benrahma, who now has the chance to win the Europa League with the Hammers and potential finish in the top four of the Premier League table.

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