Is it just me who isn’t that fussed about this Philogene? I’m sure he’s a decent player but it sounds like we’re dropping £5 million on a kid who got the same amount of league goals and fewer assists last season than Longman did in the 21/22 season when he was on loan with us. Not saying Longman’s better at all but are there cheaper alternatives? If I remember correctly, we paid £750k for Longman on the back of that half-season when he got better goal contributions than Philogene did at Cardiff last season.
Just saying, £5 million is a lot for a Championship club with no parachute payments or big player sales to blow on one player. The whole buy-back thing seems like hard-nosed negotiating by Villa but at what point do we walk away and pursue other targets this late in the window?
There's more to football than just goals and assists. Jack Grealish is the most expensive winger in premier league history, yet his numbers are relatively poor in Man Citys team. Didn't stop him being a vital cog in a treble winning side though