Aston Villa: Scott Hogan was always a risky transfer

New Aston Villa striker Scott Hogan was stretchered off in the away defeat to Newcastle United. Villa supporters should wonder if Hogan will ever truly be fit for extended periods.

Aston Villa transferred in Brentford striker Scott Hogan in excess of £10 million – an exorbitant sum in the English second division. Given the amount of interest garnered from Premier League clubs, Villa had to raise the price in order to land their man.

However, it should be noted Scott Hogan has quite an extensive injury history. At a young age of 24, these injuries are worrisome. No one can predict future injuries, but the number one indicator of a future injury is the presence of previous ones.

Let’s review the injury history of forward Scott Hogan:

30 August, 2014 – cruciate ligament tear

29 April 2015 – cruciate ligament tear (same knee)

20 February 2017 – ankle ligament damage

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These three injuries together limited Hogan to thirty-five total appearances in the last three seasons. Should his ankle injury on Monday rule him out for the remainder of the season, Hogan shall be stuck on 35.

Albeit, he scored twenty-one goals in that time.

Manager Steve Bruce is optimistic the injury is not as serious as it first looked.

Regardless, Hogan will miss multiple matches; leaving Jonathan Kodjia as the only other serviceable option in the attack.

The Kodjia-Hogan strike partnership looked, at times, capable of terrifying the Championship. However, Villa were completely unable to muster anything goal-bound in their successive losing streak.

For Aston Villa to get value out of the Scott Hogan deal, they must ensure he his fit for every match. Villa’s transfer policy these last five years have absolutely buried the club in dead-weight contracts, unfit players and toxic dressing room attitudes.

See: McCormack, Agbonlahor, Sánchez, Kozak, Crespo, Lescott, Tonev, Richardson, Bent etc.

This is not to suggest Scott Hogan is any of the above. On the contrary, he most certainly is not. But, there remains writing on the wall about Hogan’s extensive injury history. Given the nature of his inexperience in the Championship (let alone the Premier League), there remains a certain amount of risk involved in the deal.

Next: Player Grades: AVFC and NUFC

For everyone’s sake, let’s hope this is not another Libor Kozak moment. Aston Villa executives should have known it was a risky transfer.

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