The ‘Maxi Gómez would be bad for Villa’ takes are bad

It seems to be a nothing story right now - but Uruguayan striker Maximiliano ‘Maxi’ Gómez has been linked with a mega-money move to Aston Villa. Villa will absolutely need a striker for their next season in the Premier League and Maxi fits the bill, and then some - and then some.

At face value, and this will clearly sound insane to some of you, but Maxi would be the single greatest signing at striker that Aston Villa have made in the past ten years. Of course, there are some minor things to work out - like the fact that it ‘might’ not work out - but a player like Gómez has the best chance to succeed and if Villa do end up buying him for a heck of a lot of money, they’ll have purchased the right player.

What’s so good about him then? Well - he lives to score goals. He eats the goalmouth for breakfast. He is fearless in the face of goal and almost terrifying with the ball before him. He has the body of someone who could easily kick your ass over and over and over again. He is faster than you and stronger than you. There is something inside of him that is scary - and that’s something that you want on your side. The fear he puts into the opposition, the terrifying ambition he has - in game. The low centre-of-gravity that pulls him downwards and forwards like Wile.E.Coyote. His AI like abilities of prediction, that drag him to the best position possible on set-pieces, like an algorithm.

And for all this, there’s very little chance that he’ll end up at Villa. Why? Because Villa don’t sign players who are this good. They go to Liverpool or Manchester United. If Villa do end up with him, it’d be a blessing.

Aston Villa have spent three seasons pissing around in the Championship. During that time, Maxi Gómez scored twenty-eight goals in Montevideo, moved to Spain, scored thirty additional goals, played in the World Cup and single-handedly validated Celta Vigo’s league position in La Liga. Where do we get off when we’re judging players like Gómez?

There seems to be an incredible amount of instantly-type takes in regards to Gómez. That he’s not good enough for Villa, that he’s not a Premier League player. That he didn’t do a job for your shite team in Football Manager so how can he cut it at Villa? The timeline and airwaves are full of this reactionary nonsense. It’s the constant farting of poor analysis into an ill-ventilated room. Opinions are like ars-

You know the drill. They come from people who’ve never seen Gómez, never heard of Gómez, never enjoyed the gifts that players like Gómez bring to the game. It’s almost incredible that some people choose to think that a player who has relished his chance in La Liga wouldn’t be good enough for Villa - and at 22? The world is at his feet!

It’s just interesting when we are linked with players of the calibre of Gómez that we choose to instantly judge and dismiss them - but I’ll tell you what, if he does somehow arrive at Aston Villa, Maxi Gómez stands a very good chance of being a damn good thing.