As I expected to happen, following the relegation of West Ham, Villa have been linked with an interest in former favourite Thomas Hitzlsperger who is believed to be one of a number of players involved in a mass exodus at Upton Park.The Hammer spent much of his debut season with West Ham on the treatment table after suffering a serious thigh injury on international duty with Germany just days before the season began, having joined the London club on a free transfer from Lazio. Reports suggest he is available for as little as £500k as the club looks to cut its huge wage bill and as a squad player, I would say that’s a bargain.
Since returning from injury in February he has shown that his rocket left-foot has not left his game and his range of passing is very good and better/more ambitious than the likes of Reo-Coker and Petrov. As I said I don’t think he is a week-in week-out starter but could be a decent impact player in my opinion and he is still remembered well at the club having played over 100 caps for Villa.
In his 11 league games for the Hammers he netted twice and assisted 4 goals and was not afraid to shoot, as ever, averaging 2 attempts a match. He also has a decent pass success rate of 80% and won an impressive 67% of his aerial battles in the middle of the park. Arguably his best stat is that he made an average of 3.09 key passes a game, by far a team high (Villa’s best is Ashley Young with 2.29). He was also only dispossessed o.8 times a game and attempted 3 long balls and 2 crosses per appearance. Bring him back?
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