This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Aston Villa are monitoring the situation surrounding Dwight McNeil’s potential Burnley exit.
According to the Evening Standard, the club have been keeping tabs on the winger for quite a while, with a view to making a possible swoop for his signing.
Here we ask our FLW writers their verdict on if the 22-year old would be a good addition to Steven Gerrard’s side…
Josh Cole
Whereas Dwight McNeil has shown that he is capable of competing in the Premier League during his career, there is no guarantee that he will be an upgrade on Villa's existing attacking options.
When you consider that Steven Gerrard is currently able to turn to the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Leon Bailey for inspiration in this particular position, they ought to consider opting against making a move for McNeil.
In the previous campaign, McNeil suffered a dip in form which resulted in him only managing to provide one direct goal contribution in the top-flight.
Given that Burnley are likely to seek a sizable fee for the winger, Villa may find it beneficial to turn the attention to splashing the cash on a player who could potentially help them reach new heights in the Premier League in the coming seasons.
Marcus Ally
McNeil’s development at Burnley in the last few seasons has definitely benefited from being a first choice player in the Premier League.
That may not be possible at Villa Park due to an abundance of attacking players, and therefore he may have other options that could further his career more than Gerrard’s men.
That said, with Anwar El-Ghazi, Bertrand Traore and Leon Bailey failing to assert themselves as starters under Gerrard, there is room for someone to come in and nail down a starting berth.
However, having played in such a defensive, but successful, system under Sean Dyche at Turf Moor in recent years, the jury is out on the 22-year-old’s ability to hit the ground running at Villa Park.
Declan Harte
While McNeil is absolutely capable of competing in the Premier League, Aston Villa may not be his best option should he depart Burnley.
Gerrard has a wealth of attacking options across all areas of the final third, so it is unclear that the 22-year old would get much playing time.
A £15 million fee for the player would be a good cost for any Premier League side, so it comes as no surprise that so many are monitoring his situation at Turf Moor.
But Villa are one of the few top flight sides who could be better off steering away from a possible move and instead focusing on improving other parts of the squad.