The father of the Taifa Stars captain reveals a conversation with his son who is being linked with a move away from Villa Park
Mzee Ally Samatta has revealed his son Mbwana Samatta is not ready to leave Aston Villa or even play outside England.
In recent weeks, the 27-year-old has been reportedly linked with Villa’s league rivals West Bromwich Albion and a move to the Turkish Super Lig could be on the cards with Fenerbahce said to be interested in his services.
Mzee Samatta has now claimed his son has openly told him he does not want to leave Villa Park and reports linking him to West Brom or Turkish teams are not true.
“I have talked to my son [Mbwana] Samatta and he has told me it is not true Aston Villa have asked him to leave or they want to part ways with him,” Mzee Samatta told Azam TV.
“He explained to me they have a squad of 30 players in the team and if they go for matches, not all the 30 players will be allowed to play, we cannot have 30 players for matchday but only 18, so we must have 12 players who will miss a match out of 30 and if I sit out then it should not be a problem.
“My son further told me he has not received any offers from Fenerbahce, Besiktas, Galatasaray, or even Aston Villa neighbours West Bromwich Albion, no team has approached him or even Aston Villa approaching them to sell him.
“My son says he is just reading all these reports in the media, that there are teams which want his services but he has not received any deal on the table, for now, I don’t know anything even my agent knows nothing about the reported deals.
“My son told me, all those reports are lies, he is not going anywhere, ‘I am at Aston Villa unless things change later, but for now I want you as my dad to know that, I am still an Aston Villa player’.”
On whether Mbwana is worried about his future at Villa Park now, he is not getting enough playing time, his father said: “The stand of Mbwana is he wants to stay at Aston Villa, or any other team that will want his services inside England.
“If he gets a team in England he will move, and that is what he told me, he is ready to move to a team in England because he wants to play in England and not outside England.”
Asked on what advice he gave to his son on the reported move to West Brom, Mzee Samatta explained: “As my son, I have already advised him, if you want to play in the best league, please stay in England or if not move to Italy, Germany, or even France and Spain, those are the countries I have told him to get a team.
“But I have also advised him to stay in England, if he gets any team from England, like the reported news on West Brom, I have asked him to take the deal [if Aston Villa are ready to let him go], I want him to stay in England because we want to see him play in the biggest league in the world.”
Mzee Samatta also admitted that his son will be taking a step down should he leave England for Belgium.
“Now he has already played in Belgium, I don’t think it is good for him to go back there, he has already played in England and the next move should be the countries I mentioned above,” Mzee Samatta continued.
“But all in all, what my son wants is to play football, he signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Aston Villa and whoever wants to sign him must pay 40 million pounds for his services, and that means Villa have tied him down to a long term deal and don’t want him to go.”
Last season, Samatta scored one goal in the Premier League, against Bournemouth, and a bullet header against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final – but struggled to find his feet with the pace of the top-flight.
Nine months after his signing from Genk, Samatta faces an uncertain future in the West Midlands following the signing of Ollie Watkins from Brentford this summer.
He is yet to feature for Aston Villa since the new season started and was missing in action on Monday as they defeated Sheffield United 1-0 with manager Dean Smith explaining his omission was because of his performances in training.
The Tanzania captain alongside new signing Bertrand Traore did not feature in Smith’s 18-man squad as Ezri Konsa’s header gave them a flying start to the 2020-21 Premier League season at Villa Park.
“That was just selection. Players who I believe have done well [in training] get in the team,” Smith was quoted by Birmingham Live.
“Last season was a tough start, a baptism and we had to bed in a lot of players.
“This season we just felt there’s no newness about it. There’s an expectancy from myself that we’ll be much better this season.”
Samatta will be keen to make an appearance for Aston Villa’s Carabao Cup trip to Bristol City on Thursday.
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