Aston Villa fans, remember Harold Moukoudi?
If you need a reminder, he was a centre-back Steve Bruce wanted back when the now Newcastle manager was in charge at Villa Park, and he came really close to signing.
Then at Le Havre, the young defender visited the club’s infrastructures and even spoke to the manager at the time, but decided he was better off staying in France to help his development without jumping any steps.
Thus, he signed for Saint-Etienne in France after running down his contract with the Ligue 2 side, but that hasn’t worked out for him.
In fact, Claude Puel, who recently took over, has apparently put Moukoudi’s name down as one of the five players he’d like his club to offload in the January window if they can.
Now, this could be a great chance for Aston Villa to finally get their man, but it remains to be seen if Dean Smith would be as interested as Bruce.
After all, the club heavily recruited at centre-back over the summer, spending a combined £42m on the position.
It’s a long shot, but if Moukoudi is available for a discount price, perhaps it’s something Villa could consider.
