As per a report from Daily Mail, EFL Championship sides Aston Villa and Swansea City are set to compete against each other to sign Kilmarnock winger Jordan Jones in the winter transfer window.
The 24-year-old Jones will be out of contract in the summer with the Scottish Premiership club and will be free to talk to foreign clubs from the New Year. And Swansea and Villa are hoping to capitalize on his contract situation by making a swoop when the transfer window opens in over a month’s time.
Jones has had a fairly decent campaign so far for the Killies, having registered three assists in 11 Premiership appearances in Scotland. The winger impressed for the Northern Ireland national team in their goalless draw against the Republic of Ireland last week and got the assist for Corry Evans’ goal in their 2-1 defeat to Austria on Sunday.
With two Championship outfits battling for his signature, who should Jones choose?
After a difficult start to the campaign under Steve Bruce, the Villans seem to have corrected their course since Dean Smith took over the reins last month. Villa now sit 11th in the Championship standings, with 24 points from 17 matches and are just four points below Derby County, who occupy the final playoff position in the table.
The Midlands outfit have a number of options in the wide areas with the likes of Albert Adomah, Anwar El Ghazi, Yannick Bolasie (both on loan). Meanwhile, Ahmed Elmohamady and Jonathan Kodjia have also been utilized on the flanks under Smith.
However, none of them has made a huge impact in the ongoing campaign for Villa. Moreover, with Adomah in the final year of his contract and Bolasie and El Ghazi returning to their parent clubs once their loan deals expire, another addition to the wings wouldn’t go amiss.
Since getting relegated from the Premier League, the Swans look set for a push to the playoff spots at the first time of calling itself under new manager Graham Potter. The Welsh outfit currently sit eighth in the table, two points above Aston Villa and two below the sixth-placed Derby County.
Like Villa, Swansea also have plenty of options on the wings in Luciano Narsingh, Jefferson Montero, Wayne Routledge, Nathan Dyer, along with summer import Barrie McKay. Potter has also used right-back Connor Roberts as a winger in the ongoing season. The young Daniel James has also been a revelation since bursting on to the scenes this term while former Liverpool youngster Yan Dhanda is another option for the manager.
However, the club are believed to be looking to offload Dyer and Routledge in the January transfer window (h/t Wales Online), while Luciano Narsingh could also be on his way out of the club, as per reports from BBC. And with Montero’s well-documented injury problems, the Swans could really use another body out in the wide areas heading into the second half of the campaign.
Both Aston Villa and Swansea City are enticing options for Jones. The Kilmarnock man has the ability to establish himself as a regular in the first-team at both places. And with exits on the cards from both the clubs, there is a good chance that he will receive equal playing opportunities at both Villa Park and Liberty Stadium.
Both teams are fairly well-placed to push for a playoff spot in the second half of the season. However, given that Swansea are currently in a more stable state in comparison to the Villans, who only recently had a managerial change, the 24-year-old would be better served by joining the Welsh outfit in January.
