Aston Villa hero Paul Merson has hailed their swoop for Southampton striker Danny Ings.
Merson wrote for the Daily Star: "Aston Villa have pulled off one of the cleverest signings of the decade – and I'm not talking about getting £100million for Jack Grealish either.
"Villa boss Dean Smith has pulled a real rabbit out of the hat with that smash 'n' grab raid to bring in Danny Ings.
"Wow! What a signing that is. If you needed something to take the sting out of losing your best player then there's a million worse ways you could have gone about it than signing Ings.
"You just know the lad is going to score goals and the fans are going to absolutely love him. Smith has played a blinder. The clever thing about it is that Ings is what you might call a 'here and now' signing. You're probably going to get two good years out of him.
"He's 29 and his recent record with injuries is a worry but he's a brilliant goalscorer who can hit the ground running for Villa and that's exactly what Smith and the club needs. There's no point bringing in a young prospect and giving him time to try and find his feet in the Premier League."
