da dobrowin： As confirmed by the club’s official website, Jota has left Aston Villa just a year after joining the club.
What’s the word?
da roleta： The Spaniard was one of a number of signings made by the club’s former sporting director, Suso, in the summer of 2019, but ended up making just 16 competitive appearances at Villa Park.
Now, the club have confirmed that they have reached a mutual agreement with the 29-year-old to terminate his contract, just days before the end of the transfer window in the Premier League.
A reminder of Suso’s Villa disaster
Well, that was certainly a surprise. Given that Jota had featured twice in the Carabao Cup this season – albeit as a second-half substitute – the termination of his contract has come out of the blue.
But when you look at his overall contribution – and that word is used very lightly – it’s just another reminder of how badly Suso got it wrong last summer. Reports suggested that Villa paid around £4m to sign him from rivals Birmingham, and when you factor that into the £25k-a-week wages he was earning for more than a year, the club shelled out a total of £5.7m for Jota.
Dean Smith’s side spent big money as they embarked on their first season back in the Premier League, and were it not for a late season rally and a truly huge victory over Arsenal, they would have been playing Championship football again.
Despite their rise to safety, Suso’s mistakes in the transfer market shouldn’t be forgotten. The fact that he was replaced by Johan Lange earlier in the summer is a testament to that.
But having been around for just one year, Jota is the ultimate symbol of the former Villa sporting director’s failings whilst at the club.