Aston Villa signed no fewer than 12 players for over £150m throughout last season and one of those names has already been linked with an exit from the club this week...

What's the word?

According to Turkish outlet Fotospor, Villa striker Mbwana Samatta is of interest to Super Lig outfit Besiktas just eight months after he signed for the Midlands club.

It's claimed that Dean Smith is no longer counting on him following the arrival of his old favourite Ollie Watkins from Brentford and the Black Eagles want him to replace the recently departed Burak Yilmaz.

League rivals Fenerbahce are also keen on the 27-year-old but they would only make a loan approach.

Suso catastrophe

Once again, this is seemingly another huge miss from former director of football Jesus Garcia Pitarch. It's no wonder the club have let him go and since replaced him with the more competent Johan Lange.

Villa pulled the trigger on him during the January transfer window, splashing out an £8.5m transfer fee as well as wages thought to be around £21k-per-week.

In 14 appearances, the Premier League's first-ever Tanzanian-born player managed to score just one goal and averaged a mediocre 1.2 shots, 0.6 dribbles and three aerials won per game, via WhoScored.

It's almost as if the warning signs were already there having signed Wesley Moraes from the Belgian league earlier in the summer. He performed slightly better, scoring five times, but hardly hit the ground running prior to picking up a serious injury - so why go back to the league that barely worked?

Suso, therefore, has blown around £9.2m in total - and counting - on Samatta. He's under contract at Villa Park until the summer of 2024, so they should snap Besiktas' hands off with any solid approach this summer.

Those in the west Midlands should be glad that the Spaniard is no longer in charge of transfers. This saga is a damning reminder of what could've been this window.

AND in other news, this move for "incredible" PL man would be shades of Stewart Downing...