Aston Villa reportedly face a big decision this month as West Ham Utd are said to have made an offer to sign Danny Ings.
Ings, 30, joined us from Southampton in August 2021, and has since gone on to score 14 goals and provide eight assists in 52 appearances for the club.
READ MORE: Doubt cast over touted exit for Villa ace
While he has struggled to secure a regular place in the Villa XI, he has continued to play an important role for us and given our limited numbers up front, he remains a vital option for boss Unai Emery.
However, according to The Telegraph, West Ham are now set to test our resolve when it comes to keeping Ings, as they have made a bid to sign him, while it’s suggested that he is valued at around £15m.
It’s added that while Ings isn’t necessarily for sale – and with Emery publicly stating earlier this month that he hadn’t spoken to him about an exit as per BirminghamLive – Villa could be tempted into giving a departure the green light in order to free up funds in the January transfer window to allow Emery to continue bringing in his own players.
Further, Ings is likely to be one of the higher earners at the club, and so if a good offer were to come in for the 30-year-old, it could also be an appealing opportunity to cut the wage bill.
That said, Ings is currently our top goalscorer so far this season with seven goals in all competitions, and with Ollie Watkins being the only other senior option available to Emery to lead the line up top, it would mean we would need to replace him.
Villa did announce that an agreement had been reached to sign Jhon Duran from Chicago Fire this week, and so we hope to have a long-term solution in the talented 19-year-old, but he’ll possibly need time to settle.
In turn, in the short term, that’s a lot of pressure to put on Watkins and a risk to not have enough back-up in case of injuries, with Villa allowing Cameron Archer to join Middlesbrough on loan for the rest of the season too.
While we appear to be thinking of the long-term picture and there is real excitement over the talent we have moving forward, selling Ings now, halfway through the campaign, could be a questionable decision, unless we have a clear plan to bring in a replacement to fill that void immediately.
