Aston Villa may have missed a trick by failing to land reported summer transfer target, Eberechi Eze.

What was the story?

Reports from The Guardian back in late July suggested that Dean Smith's side were interested in signing the attacker from Championship side QPR, but that the club would face significant competition for his signature from fellow Premier League teams.

In the end, Eze completed a switch to Crystal Palace for a fee in the region of £20m, with Villa signing their own wide player in Lyon's Bertrand Traore. Whilst the former has yet to score for his new team, there's a real case to be made that Smith should have landed the man from Loftus Road.

Shades of Sterling

With 14 goals and eight assists in just 46 Championship games last season, Eze was a shining light for a QPR team that didn't even make the play-offs.

The England U21 international possesses a lot of the best characteristics a winger should have, with Sky Sports' Lewis Jones claiming that he "is a devastating ball-carrier, possessing a glide with the ball that only a unique talent can boast."

And that dribbling is what QPR's former manager, Marc Bircham, has previously raved about, saying: "He goes past players easier than Raheem Sterling did. Sterling would beat players with pace or do a trick or a chop - it's all dynamic movements, but Ebere Eze just glides past players."

With Traore, Villa have someone who previously played in the Premier League with Chelsea and didn't make the grade. In Eze, they would have signed a rising talent with real experience of English football, and the potential to develop into a fearsome star at Villa Park.