£19m down the drain: Shocking Aston Villa flop has been rinsing the club for 54 weeks - opinion

Aston Villa owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris have shown for a number of years now that they are not shy when it comes to spending money on bringing new players to the Midlands club to try and strengthen the squad and push the team forward.

However, not all of the players that have arrived at Villa Park over the past few years have been entirely successful.

One example of this is with midfielder Morgan Sanson, who became a Villa player 54 weeks ago in the 2021 January transfer window from French club Marseille in a deal worth a reported fee of £16m.

Since then, the 27-year-old has only made 16 appearances across all competitions after struggling with illness and numerous injury issues, which former Villa boss Dean Smith labelled as “frustrating.”

In those 16 appearances, the midfielder, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £59k-per-week according to Salary Sport, has failed to register even one goal or assist but managed to rack up three yellow cards.

When he has had the chance to play, Sanson has failed to show why the club chose to sign him as he ended his first season with the Villans as one of their lowest-rated players based on his Premier League performances with an overall rating of 6.2/10 from WhoScored.

This season has been rather underwhelming for the former Marseille players as well, with just six league appearances and two starts under his belt with an overall performance rating of 6.34/10 from WhoScored, once again making him one of the lowest-rated players currently in Steven Gerrard’s squad.

This suggests that Sanson hasn’t really been a successful signing for Villa with just over a year into his tenure at the Midlands club and has arguably been a waste of £19m from NSWE combined from his