Aston Villa’s move for Abel Hernandez falls apart as Xia and co pursue new targets

Aston Villa’s main summer transfer saga is over. Hull’s Uruguayan forward, Abel Hernández has fallen through.

As you can see from Pat Murphy’s reports - Villa couldn’t agree a deal with Abel Hernández that would see the Uruguayan sign on the dotted line for the Villans. Frankly, Abel held all the cards and this shows that Villa won’t make stupid decisions with money this year. This could be picked back up, though, if Villa become truly desperate to land a new striker.

Murphy also notes that Villa are very close to signing Bristol City’s Jonathan Kodjia in a deal that will set Aston Villa back £15 million. It is a deal that needs to be done, as Villa need a striker desperately to back-up Jordan Ayew and Ross McCormack.

Aston Villa have also been chasing Nottingham Forest’s Britt Assombalonga.

What’s especially exciting about this news is that it highlight’s Villa’s ambition. Villa were clearly chasing both Kodjia and Abel Hernández at the same time, which would have been an exciting tandem to join McCormack up front. However, it’s looking likely that Villa will need to draw from their youth ranks to ensure their striking department doesn’t suffer attrition during a long and eventful Championship campaign.