Why Aston Villa will be pleased their bid for Joe Bryan was hijacked by Fulham

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This summer, Fulham famously hijacked Aston Villa’s bid to sign Bristol City’s left back Joe Bryan at the last minute.

The transfer fiasco was an embarrassing situation for Villa, yet the club appears to have dodged an expensive bullet after Bryan’s inconsistent start to life in SW6.

The English defender has been desperately unlucky with injury to date, with a hamstring strain suffered against Everton back in September ruling Bryan out for almost two months.

When Bryan has played for Fulham, the former Bristol City man has looked decent in spells, yet he failed to earn the confidence of former Whites manager Slavisa Jokanovic.

Jokanovic began the season with Bryan as his first choice left back, yet dropped the 25-year-old in favour of Ryan Sessegnon and Maxime Le Marchand on a number of occasions, with the Serbian clearly unconvinced by the summer acquisition.

Bryan started Fulham’s first three matches, was dropped to the bench for the following two, and then was completely left out of the squad for Fulham’s clash against Watford in late September.

In all, Joe Bryan’s opening months at Craven Cottage have been far from an overwhelming success, with the left back suffering from injury and a lack of consistent playing time.

Aston Villa will be relieved to see their former target struggling in the top flight, providing some solace for the Championship club that Joe Bryan snubbed.