One great thing about the transfer window is that there are always those stories that emerge which provide an indication into some of the deals that could have taken place, but for one reason or another, they didn’t.
Speaking to German outlet, Berliner Kurier ex-Chelsea striker, Salomon Kalou, has hinted that a deadline-day move to Aston Villa was on the cards, but it fell through, as he shared that he ‘got a call’ from his former teammate, John Terry.
“England would have appealed to me very much,” Kalou told Berliner Kurier. “I got a call from my good friend John Terry, who is now coaching Aston Villa. At that time he was our captain at Chelsea and a real leader. I would have loved to play under him.
“We tried until the end if there was a possibility. But I’m not a European, I don’t play in the national team anymore. That was the problem,”
Kalou, 34, is currently plying his trade in Germany’s top-league where he is playing for Hertha Berlin, as a move to Villa Park would have been met with mixed responses.
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A versatile attacker, who can operate on the flanks and as a number nine, Kalou has 156 Premier League games under his belt, scoring 36 goals and supplying 25 assists for his teammates [transfermarkt].
But he last made a league appearance in England’s top-flight in 2012, and it’s fair to say that age has caught up on him and a lot has changed since then.
Whilst he would have added experience to Villa’s dressing room, Kalou has only played five Bundesliga games this term, scoring the one goal [transfermarkt], so from a footballing perspective, it was best that Villa didn’t secure his signature.
In the end, Villa signed Swansea hitman, Borja Baston on deadline-day, and whilst some would put him in the same boat as Kalou, he did arrive on a free transfer, so it is a nothing to lose like situation.
The final decisions are now made and Dean Smith will be hoping that Mbwana Samatta, Keinan David and Baston can deliver the goods for the team in the final third.
