Smith adds second Aston Villa man to his Norwich wishlist as he’s a ‘big admirer’
Dean Smith has added a second Aston Villa player to his Norwich City wishlist as he wants a frontman, a report has claimed.
The new Canaries boss has already eyed a reunion with midfielder Conor Hourihane, who is currently on loan at Sheffield United. And now he sees another of his former squad as a transfer target.
That man is striker Keinan Davis, according to Football Insider, who Smith is a ‘big admirer’ of.
The English manager is said to want a Premier League level player to ‘spearhead’ the Norwich attack.
And not only does he feel Davis, 23, can do that, but he also believes he can lure him away from Villa Park in January.
His Midlands club have had several approaches for his services in recent years. And these have all been knocked back.
But Steven Gerrard has a whole host of attacking options at his disposal. As such, an offer somewhere between £2-4m could convince Villa to sell.
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Davis’ contract runs until the summer of 2024, so if that amount is deemed to be below his price tag, then a loan deal could be the way forward.
The former England U20 international has played just 11 minutes of football this season, which came in a substitute appearance in Smith’s final Villa game.
This lack of action has been because of a knee injury sustained in pre-season. After his cameo against Southampton before the international break, he was unused from the bench in Gerrard’s first match.
Davis also missed more than a month of action last season with an ankle injury. His time on the sidelines to time on the pitch ratio may be a concern.
Norwich need as many bodies fit as possible to help in their relegation fight. But Smith seems willing to take the risk, even though he’s scored just six goals in 86 Villa appearances.
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Meanwhile, Smith has highlighted how crucial Billy Gilmour will be to Norwich’s battle.
The Scotland midfielder and Chelsea loanee was barely used by former boss Daniel Farke, but Smith started him for his first game.
“Billy will be very vital to staying up,” Smith said.
“When you have a player of that talent on loan, you want to get the best out of him. We want to utilise the strengths he has and he was part of a good team performance in the second half.
“He showed pockets of what he could do in the first half. But we had to see another side to him because we didn’t have an awful lot of the ball. I think he showed everybody what he can do.”
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