Neal Maupay must justify £20m-plus price-tag against interested Aston Villa

Add as preferred source on Google

Aston Villa take on Brentford in the Championship this evening and manager Dean Smith will be hoping to get one over his former team. The Midlands club will also be facing off against a player they were reportedly keen on in January.

As reported by Sky Sports, the Championship side were hopeful of signing French striker Neal Maupay. Aston Villa had concerns that top-scorer Tammy Abraham could head to Wolves and Maupay was seen as a perfect replacement.

However, Brentford reportedly valued the striker at £20 million-plus, according to the same report. That sort of figure undoubtedly put clubs off.

Tonight, the Frenchman will look to justify such a price-tag. He has 20 goals in 33 games this season, which in itself suggests he would set interested parties back financially.

But if he can show Aston Villa fans what he is capable tonight then a clamour to sign the bullish frontman will surely begin in the summer.

Maupay must use this evening to prove he is worth such an extravagant sum, should Aston Villa come back in the summer.