Aston Villa Villans were rinsed by ‘lazy’ flop who cost £5.6m per goal
He will go down as one of the worst signings in Aston Villa’s history
While everything is going swimmingly well at Aston Villa, it hasn’t always been that way, especially when considering some of their recent transfers.
To be honest, Villa have spent the majority of the last decade either wallowing towards the bottom of the Premier League or fighting tooth and nail to escape the Championship.
Following their disastrous relegation to the second tier in 2016, the club stretched their financial muscles in the summer window, spending a remarkable £74m (£85.5m) in their bid to return to the top flight.
While the likes of James Chester, Conor Hourihane, and Albert Adomah laid the groundwork for their eventual promotion in 2019, the £12m captures of Brentford’s Scott Hogan and Fulham’s Ross McCormack ultimately proved to be two of the club’s worst deals in recent years, and were major reasons for Villa’s three-year stay in the Championship.
McCormack, in particular, will be remembered as one of the club’s worst signings.
How much did Aston Villa pay for McCormack?
McCormack arrived at Villa Park as one of the most explosive strikers in the Championship, justifying the club’s estimated £12 million fee.
The Scottish attacker was merciless in front of goal, mixing fast movement with accurate finishing to become one of the hottest commodities in the second division, characteristics that were backed up by his huge goal-scoring output.
McCormack has been planning a big money move for a long time after scoring 23 goals for Fulham in the 2015/16 season and a total of 71 goals in the previous three seasons.
Villa beat off competition from relegated clubs Newcastle and Norwich to sign him, and many expected the Midlands club to run away with the Championship title after assembling a squad deemed too good for the level, with McCormack playing a huge role in that estimation.
The clinical forward joined the club at the peak of his powers at the age of 30, but with the transfer fee weighing heavily on his shoulders, McCormack crumbled under the weight of the pressure, costing the Villans a whopping £38.5k per week in wages, which accumulated to around £5m across two seasons and £17m overall when the initial transfer fee was added to the wage expenditure.
It is safe to argue that the signing of McCormack, like many others during that period, was a waste of money for Villa.
How did McCormack perform for Aston Villa?
There are numerous reasons why McCormack’s stint at Villa Park was a terrible failure, despite arriving as one of the finest players to grace the Championship.
McCormack was eventually released in 2019 after loan spells at Nottingham Forest, Central Coast Mariners, Melbourne City FC, and Motherwell, and is remembered for the angst he caused off the field rather than his performances on it, despite scoring only three goals in 24 appearances at a cost of £5.6m per goal.
With his terrible attitude impeding his innate footballing skill, the Scotland international notoriously missed training while Steve Bruce was manager owing to an incident with his house’s gate, and the veteran manager wasn’t shy in his criticism of the player.
“In my opinion, he is not fit enough to play,” he remarked, adding that “he will not play unless his attitude toward training and missing training improves.” If that improves, I will reassess him, but if he continues to miss training as he has, that will be the end of the matter.”
Simon Jordan, a prominent pundit on talkSPORT, referred to the Scot as a “lazy slob” for his actions.
While Villa fans remember McCormack for his misbehavior, lackluster performances, and draining of the club’s resources, he is still recognized as one of the best attackers to grace the EFL since the millennium’s turn.
