Gerrard will be having nightmares over “aggressive” £74k-p/w gem, AVFC badly need him - opinion

Even though Aston Villa had a rather productive January transfer window in terms of strengthening their squad with new faces making the move to Villa Park such as Philippe Coutinho, Calum Chambers, Robin Olsen and Lucas Digne, they didn’t manage to secure a new central-midfielder, which Steve Gerrard reportedly wanted for his side.

Having had a bid for Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Yves Bissouma rejected, Villa were also linked with a move for Rodrigo Bentancur in the latter stages of the window before he eventually made the move from Juventus to fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur on a permanent deal.

Focusing on the Uruguay international, according to Villa journalist Gregg Evans, the Midlands club were “keen” on bringing the midfielder, who was picking up a weekly wage of £74k-per-week at Juventus according to Salary Sport, to Villa Park but “couldn’t agree terms” on a potential deal.

Now that the window has closed and Bentancur has got his Spurs career going, the 24-year-old has already shown what Villa have missed out on and why the club and Gerrard will now be regretting not managing to strike a deal for him when they had the chance.

With just three league appearances under his belt, the £22.5m-rated midfielder has managed to earn himself an overall performance rating of 6.68/10 from WhoScored, making him Tottenham’s eighth-highest rated outfield player at this stage of the season, showing that it didn’t take him long to get suited to the Premier League and his new club.

His previous performance for the north London club in their recent 3-2 win over Manchester City also shows just how much of a useful midfield option he could have been for Villa by racking up three tackles and two clearances with one