Aston Villa must seriously consider making a renewed attempt to sign Odsonne Edouard in the January transfer window, after Dean Smith made a huge admission about Wesley.

What's the story?

Wesley of course has been out of action for almost a year after suffering a serious knee injury, and though he appears to be slowly making his way back to full fitness, there is always going to be that element of doubt of whether he can get back to his best.

And speaking ahead of Villa's clash against Wolves on Saturday afternoon, Smith admitted that the club will have to take a close look at the Brazilian to see whether they may need to go back into the transfer market for a new striker.

He said: "We need to see where Wesley is in January to have in our mind whether we need to move in the market. We're very hopeful. He's working extremely hard with the rehab staff at the moment to work on his aerobic capacity. Once he does that we can get him into group training and we'll have a better idea of where he is then.

"He was always penned in to be out for a year. He is striking a ball now but it was a significant injury and we always felt it would be a 12-month injury."

Edouard has to be the priority

Reports over the summer suggested that Villa were one of the clubs keen on making a move for Edouard, but the Frenchman ended up staying at Celtic.

And his start to the new campaign has been prolific to say the least, with nine goals in just 18 games, including bagging a couple in the Europa League group stages against Milan and Slavia Prague.

Hailed as "talismanic" by Neil Lennon, Edouard's performances up in Scotland have seen him being linked to the likes of Arsenal before, and when you compare him to Ollie Watkins, the Celtic striker looks the better all-round player too.

As per Sofascore, the Frenchman has a better goals per minute ratio and missed half the number of big chances that Watkins has this season, whilst he has also shown off his play-making skills by trebling the amount of big chances the Villa man has created for his teammates.

If Villa want to land a top striker in January, then Edouard is surely the man to go for.

Meanwhile, Villa are set to miss out on one of their key transfer targets.