Journalist Luke Hatfield said that Emile Smith-Rowe "put on a really good show" in Aston Villa's defeat at Arsenal last Friday.
According to The Athletic, Villa saw a £25m bid knocked back for the England Under-21 attacker earlier this summer.
To add insult to injury for Dean Smith's side, Smith-Rowe produced a man-of-the-match display to condemn Villa to their third Premier League defeat on the bounce.
What happened against Arsenal?
With the Gunners coming into the game unbeaten in five Premier League games and Villa having lost their previous two, form pointed towards a comfortable home victory.
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And it didn't take long for form to come to the front when a dominant Arsenal broke the deadlock when Thomas Partey headed in Smith-Rowe's 23rd minute corner.
Despite a dreadful first-half showing, in which Villa failed to register a single attempt on goal, they were just seconds from heading into the break just 1-0 behind.
However, six minutes into first-half stoppage-time, Matt Targett brought down Alexandre Lacazette in the box and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doubled the lead at the second time of asking after his penalty had been saved by Emiliano Martinez.
Villa's evening got even worse 11 minutes after the break when Smith-Rowe scored his second goal of the campaign to ensure that Jacob Ramsey's brilliant late strike was little more than a consolation.
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They could have reduced the gap even further late on, but the night belonged to the 21-year-old, who might have been playing in claret and blue in this game had the window turned out differently.
And Hatfield was impressed with his showing against Villa.
What did Hatfield say?
He told GIVEMESPORT: "He put on a really good show. He got his goal in the second half.
"There was a little bit of luck in terms of the deflection, but they all count, and you've got to put yourself in that position."
"Yeah, it was a really bright showing from him."
How did Smith-Rowe compare to Emiliano Buendia?
Smith-Rowe vs Buendia turned out to be the player that Villa wanted to sign against the man that they did sign.
In truth, it wasn't much of a contest and it if was, the Arsenal man would have won it at a canter.
His performance would have only been further evidence as to why Smith wanted to sign him this summer and his goal and assist means that he was directly involved in more goals in 90 minutes against Villa than Buendia has managed throughout the whole season.
It's been a disruptive campaign for Buendia, who's had his problems with his national team and also lost his place in the side, but Smith-Rowe definitely got the better of him in this fixture.