The words Barry and Bannan have long caused a split in the Aston Villa fanbase.
Some fans unequivocally failed to see what he brought to the side during his days with us and their abiding memories were filled with the passes that went astray. For others, he was the cog that everyone went through even when he wasn’t a viable choice to receive the ball and the misplaced passes were more down to the fact that our strikers had decided to point and take root to the spot they were on, rather than actually making a run.
In any event, yesterday the Mirror produced one of their usual pieces of transfer speculation and came up with 2+2 and threw in an £8million transfer fee.
The idea isn’t that bizarre, we need more from midfield and given Bannan’s showings and importance to Sheffield Wednesday he does tick a lot of boxes and he would certainly take the pressure off Jack Grealish – who now similarly seems to be expected to do everything and gets given the ball regardless of how well marked he might be.
That said, isn’t that the kind of role Conor Hourihane or Henri Lansbury should be fulfilling?
Unless he now plays as a CB, GK or LB i think another midfielder is least of our priorities tbh
— Layton (Probes) AVFC (@laytonprobert) October 29, 2018
Do we get adam reach with the 8m aswell? ????????
— noah (@noah1874) October 29, 2018
Brilliant player
— Patrick (@TheVillaaa) October 29, 2018
Baz is quality. Would be perfect for us but not for 8 mill.
— Chez Avfc (@AvfcUTV1) October 29, 2018
Excellent signing at this level but £8M seems a lot and not sure he's got much improvement left to make. Is he a prem level signing? Would only be a back up at best at the top level, and that's a lot to pay for a back up #avfc
— Reece J (@ReeceyBones) October 29, 2018
No thanks
— Mitch (@mitch16avfc) October 29, 2018
Never sure a player returning to a former club ever really works. If I was Dean Smith I think I'd forget the midfield and forwards and concentrate on defence and between the sticks. That's where our problems are. However, in Smith we trust. #AVFC
— Kevin Hughes (@kevinhughes348) October 30, 2018
I’m firmly in the should never have let him go camp, but they say you should never go back and we should be focused on other areas of the pitch when it comes to strengthening and more importantly finding the next Bannan.