by thebigbangtheo » Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:05 am
I remember him being at Norwich and thinking at the time that he was quite a skillful 'touch' player, not at the level of Ozil but of the same ilk. The other player that he similarly put me in mind of was Jack Wilshire in that he also has a touch of the maverick about him.
As such I was rather pleased that he was apparently on our radar following links that we were interested in buying him which once again turned out to be bogus as he rocked up at Leicester instead.
That we didn't get him when he was not only just a third or so of the £60M price tag now being touted for his services, but also a young man who could easily have floundered under the weight of expectation of a proper big club in decline and wearing blinkers, on his inexperienced shoulders.
As such, in the event of a deal now being struck with Leicester, the three or four years he subsequently spent with them becoming accustomed to the Premier League and flourishing could even work in our favour in that he would now essentially be bespoke.
A slightly ironical factor is the connection with Norwich City again, given that we initially pursued Buendia to be our new midfield creator-in-chief before he plumped for Villa instead, and it was him who Norwich got to replace Maddison when he left for the Foxes. If I also remember correctly, Maddison too had issues regards injuries that were viewed in a similar fashion to those raising concerns about the fitness of Smith-Rowe.