Aston Villa winger Albert Adomah has been under fine form with new manager Dean Smith at the helm. Reports indicate the 30-year old is to be offered a new deal by the club.
Months after perhaps being told he could leave under former manager Steve Bruce, Albert Adomah has made the right-wing position his home under Dean Smith. The Ghanaian international was instrumental in three consecutive wins before suffering a minor foot/ankle injury against Birmingham City.
As such, the rumor mill is churning once more with talk that Aston Villa will offer Adomah a new contract:
Albert Adomah is set to be handed a new contract at Aston Villa. [sunday people] #avfc
— villareport (@villareport) December 2, 2018
I’m here to tell you that’s entirely unnecessary, for various reasons.
For one, Adomah has a contract that runs through the summer of 2020. At least, that’s what transfermarkt tells us. Moreover, he penned a four-year deal in the summer of 2016 here and here.
The official Aston Villa website told us the same thing.
Therefore, his deal runs through 2020; not this coming summer, as written at different places recently. At minimum, Villa holds the option for next season, which of course they should and will exercise. He is a valuable player in the Championship and at minimum would be a good reserve option in the Premier League. He has re-sale value, too, as second-tier sides would vie for his signature next summer.
But extending a 30-year old winger who turns 31 in a matter of days is not a wise business or footballing decision. In fact, it would be a poor one that Villa have been all too familiar with in recent years. Long-term contracts and extensions have burned the club for over-30-somethings like Ross McCormack (still has another year to run). Micah Richards, 30, basically only played the first year of the four-year contract he signed under Tim Sherwood.
Villa are tied to Scott Hogan, Neil Taylor, Henri Lansbury, and Ørjan Nyland until June 2021. While all are contributors, none should be considered bargain contracts with so much future uncertainty.
While a one-year extension could be palatable for all sides, the club should not stray further than that. Adomah is a good player, but one whose best contributions are probably in the past. He has yet to score this season, which reinforces the second-half scoring drop-off he experienced last season.
Paying through age-33 seasons for players is generally not advisable, outside of positional and exceptional cases.