According to reports in The Sun (via the Daily Star), over the weekend, Aston Villa are lining up a £3m move for Southampton striker Sam Gallagher this summer.
The 21-year-old has been in impressive form during a season-long loan spell with Villa’s Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers this term, and it won’t come as much of a surprise that he is starting to attract interest from other teams.
Following a disappointing Championship campaign – the Villans are currently in 12th position and eleven points from the play-offs with eight fixtures left to play – Steve Bruce will know that his side must win promotion back to the Premier League next season, and that it could be one of the most important summer transfer windows of his managerial career.
Having spent more than £50m last summer and got little success, Villa know they must be more savvy this year.
Here are THREE ways Villa are showing that they are learning from their mistakes with their interest in Gallagher…
He's a young player with potential
Despite the fact that this is Gallagher’s first season of his career in which he is playing regularly – and for a side struggling at the wrong end of the Championship – the 21-year-old has scored an impressive eleven goals in 39 appearances in all competitions for Rovers.
Having also made 18 outings in the Premier League for Southampton during the 2013/14 campaign, the striker has shown that he has the potential to make it at the next level as well as this one, and that is something that Villa need when they are targeting new signings.
He has a point to prove
Whereas some of the players the Championship side brought in last summer perhaps didn’t fit into this category, Gallagher certainly would if he moved to Villa Park from Southampton.
The 21-year-old would want to prove Saints wrong for letting him go, as well as showing that he can star for a club as big as Villa.
That would mean that he would be hungry to improve and succeed, and that could only be a good thing for Steve Bruce and his team as they go for promotion next season.
He may not break the bank
While Villa spent more than £50m on transfer fees alone last summer – including a reported £12m on Ross McCormack, who has failed to impress – it would be something of a coup if they could get Gallagher for the £3m they are ready to offer Southampton for the 21-year-old’s services.
The Midlands club can’t afford that sort of outlay with no success again, and they know that they would be getting a young player who has already proven himself at this level for what would be a bargain fee in the modern era.
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