Aston Villa manager Unai Emery masterminded a 1-0 win over Zrinjski on Thursday night to secure the club's first win of the Europa Conference League group stages.
John McGinn's stoppage-time winner was enough to seal all three points as European football returned to Villa Park under the lights in dramatic fashion.
Emery has led the Villans back to Europe and proven himself an excellent appointment, following Steven Gerrard's unremarkable spell in charge.
The former Glasgow Rangers head coach, who won 12 and lost 18 of his 38 Premier League matches in charge of the club, had his fair share of mistakes in the transfer market during his time in the Midlands.
Gerrard's most-expensive Aston Villa signings:
Diego Carlos
£26.8m
Lucas Digne
£25.9m
Philippe Coutinho
£17.2m
Leander Dendoncker
£12.9m
Robin Olsen
£3m
Whilst you could focus on some of the players he did sign, as you can see in the table above, the 43-year-old tactician may also look back with regret at some of the targets he missed out on.
One possible signing who Gerrard and Villa had a mare with was Sweden international Dejan Kulusevski, who has gone on to be an excellent Premier League performer and someone who would have been an upgrade on Leon Bailey.
Were Aston Villa interested in Kulusevski?
The Daily Mail reported that the Villans were keen on a deal to sign the Juventus forward during the January transfer window of 2022, which was the former Light Blues boss' first chance to add players to his squad.
They were interested in a deal to sign the exciting winger as he was on his way out of the Italian team after a difficult spell in Turin with the Old Lady.
He made 74 appearances in all competitions for Juventus and contributed with nine goals and ten assists from a wide position, which included one goal and one assist in 11 Champions League outings.
His struggles with the Italian giants, however, came after an excellent season with Parma during the 2019/20 campaign, in which Kulusevski chipped in with ten goals and nine assists in 36 Serie A matches.
The young attacker produced 2.2 key passes per game and made 13 'big chances' for his teammates in total, which suggests that he was slightly unfortunate to end the year with less than double figures for assists.
These statistics show that Kulusevski had already proven himself to be a superb performer in a major European league, in spite of his difficulties at Juventus.
How much did Tottenham pay for Kulusevski?
Villa failed to get a deal over the line for the Swedish star and Tottenham Hotspur eventually swooped in to secure his services on an initial 18-month loan, which cost them a reported £8.3m.
They then made that deal permanent for a reported fee of £26m ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, which means that the Premier League side paid £34.3m in total for the former Serie A wizard.
Kulusevski has produced nine goals and 16 assists in 65 matches in all competitions for Spurs to date and has proven himself to be a reliable performer at the top level of English football since his exit from Juventus.
How many Premier League goals has Kulusevski scored?
The left-footed whiz has scored nine goals in 55 Premier League matches for Tottenham so far and five of those came during his first five months on loan in London.
He hit the ground running at the start of 2022 with an average Sofascore rating of 7.21 across 18 top-flight outings, in which time the talented gem contributed with five goals and eight assists.
Kulusevski made an instant impact in the division and ranked among the top 2% of his positional peers at Premier League level with 0.57 assists per 90 during the 2021/22 campaign, which shows that he was one of the most creative wingers within the league that term.
The Sweden international followed that up with two goals and seven assists in 23 league starts for Spurs throughout the 2022/23 season, as his form in front of goal took a dip.
However, the 23-year-old magician, whose crossing ability was lauded as "ridiculous" by journalist Nizaar Kinsella, has started the current campaign in excellent fashion under Ange Postecoglou.
He has averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.31 across seven Premier League games and chipped in with two goals and two 'big chances' created, along with 2.9 key passes per match.
The Spurs star, who is currently valued at €80m (£69m) by CIES, would have been a big upgrade on current Villa forward Bailey, who is also a left-footed right winger.
How many goals has Bailey scored for Villa?
Since his move to the club from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2021, the Jamaica international has scored ten goals and assisted eight in 64 matches for the Villans.
He has racked up seven goals and seven assists in 56 Premier League outings for Villa, which works out as one goal contribution every four games on average.
Whereas, Kulusevski has scored nine goals and provided 15 assists in 55 top-flight clashes for Spurs. This means that the Swedish ace has averaged one goal involvement every 2.91 matches for the London-based club over the last 20 months or so.
Bailey has also failed to average a Sofascore rating higher than 6.90 in a season throughout his Premier League career, whilst Kulusevski has averaged a score of 7.21 or higher in two of his three campaigns to date – including the current one.
These statistics suggest that the £69m-rated dynamo is able to provide a higher average performance level whilst also being able to make a greater impact at the top end of the pitch on a regular basis in comparison to Bailey.
Therefore, Gerrard and Villa had a mare when they failed to secure a deal to sign Kulusevski from Juventus ahead of Spurs back in January 2022.
The exciting forward has gone on to be an excellent performer in the top division of English football and is now valued at considerably more than the £34.3m it would have cost them in total, whilst he has also proven himself to be a big upgrade on Bailey.
