Aston Villa are closer to signing Middlesbrough’s Jordan Rhodes as the Teesside club are close to signing a potential replacement according to a report from the Birmingham Mail.
Rhodes has never really adjusted to life at Middlesbrough since he signed for them from Blackburn Rovers last January, and struggled to score when they were in the Sky Bet Championship. Now that they are in the Premier League, things have got tougher for the Scottish international as he has made only six appearances this season but hasn’t scored a single goal for them.
This has lead to plenty of interest from Championship sides hoping to score a striker who is proven to score plenty of goals at that level, with Aston Villa seeming to lead that race thanks to the amount of money they are able to spend during this transfer window. However while Middlesbrough have already signed one striker in January already, Rudy Gestede from Villa, ironically Rhodes’ best striking partner when he was at Blackburn, their head coach Aitor Karanka is uncomfortable selling Rhodes until he gets a replacement in.
But Rhodes move to Aston Villa may now be on as Karanka is close to finding that replacement. Now that Patrick Bamford’s loan at Burnley has been terminated and he is back at Chelsea, Middlesbrough are hoping to bring him back to Riverside after he was such a huge success at the club when he was on loan there in the 2014/15 season. And should he make his return to Middlesbrough, the door will be open for Rhodes to leave and join Aston Villa.
