In a sad indictment of the modern game, and one time Rangers target Matej Vydra has recently signed a new contract at Burnley until 2022, putting an end to hopes of a potential January move by the Ibrox side.
The Czech Republic international’s contract was due to expire at the end of this season and at 28-years old, acquiring a player with Premier League experience and a goal or assist every two games in the Championship would have been a sizeable coup.
Starting just 11% of Burnley’s games in the English top flight this season, getting playing time appears to be low down on the list of Vydra’s priorities, that his club were willing to let him go during the last winter transfer market shows how highly they regard him and yet he was still willing to extend his contract – oh to have the resources and TV money that even mid-table sides down south have.
He could have made a big difference to our form in the early stages of 2020 when goals were hard to come by and both Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe suffered injuries, hindsight is an incredible thing but one wonders just how much more of an impact he would have made over Florian Kamberi, who was the last minute addition to the forward line when the loan deal for £3.6million rated Vydra fell through.
Although it never came to fruition, the fact that we are looking at players of this quality again shows how far we have come, if we are to maintain our current form, resting on our laurels isn’t an option and targets of this ilk should already be on a list somewhere in Wilson’s office.