Aston Villa are expected to have a busy end to the summer transfer market, but owner Tony Xia has dismissed speculation of a £20m bid being lodged.
The Championship outfit suffered another setback on Saturday after falling to a 3-1 defeat at Bristol City, with Roberto Di Matteo’s men still struggling to find consistency.
With six new summer signings in the side at the weekend, it will likely take time for the new-look team to settle, and fortunately given the nature of the Championship, they will have a chance to get things right and climb the table.
According to The Sun, their push for promotion involved making a £20m bid for Hull City striker Abel Hernandez, with £14m up front and then a further £6m in add-ons.
Villa are certainly missing a prolific and pacy striker up top, and their inability to take their chances came back to the haunt them again in Bristol.
In turn, a move for Hernandez would make sense, albeit at a price way over the odds, but Xia has ended talk that they will move for the Uruguayan forward by insisting on Twitter that they are looking elsewhere and hope to wrap up a deal on Sunday.
It’s real. We kept trying whole summer but still didn’t work. We’re going2other option and expect announce tomorrow https://t.co/wOqbAApqrr
— Dr. Tony Xia (@Dr_TonyXia) August 27, 2016
Xia has become a popular figure with supporters given his honesty and openness on Twitter, and he has certainly done his part this summer after giving the green-light to seven new signings already.
It’s clear that more new faces are on the way, and now it will be down to Di Matteo and his staff to start getting results and quickly.
Villa sit in 16th place in the table having won just one of their opening five games of the campaign, although in their defence, they’ve had a tough start in terms of fixtures so far.