Anwar El-Ghazi: The low-down on Aston Villa's new signing

We spoke with French football writer from French Football Weekly, Jeremy Smith, to get an inside take on the Dutchman.

See what he had to say here...

Villa have signed Anwar El-Ghazi on-loan from Lille, how has he done in France?

Frustratingly and, overall, a disappointment.

He joined in January 2017 as one of the future big stars of European football after a couple of excellent seasons at Ajax, which even earned him an international call-up for the Netherlands.

But despite flashes, he never really fulfilled all that promise.

To be fair, he's not the first player signed in January to fail to make an impression the rest of that season; and last season was very dysfunctional on and off the pitch for Lille.

But considering the hype around him when he arrived, six goals and four assists in 44 matches isn't really good enough.

What would you say are his biggest strengths and weaknesses?

He is very comfortable on the ball, has the skills to beat his man, and has a fine cross on him.

His set piece delivery is good and he is a calm finisher too.

His main weakness is attitude - when he wants to he can be a match-winner, but he too often disappears from matches, going hiding at times when he is needed the most.

He is not too keen on doing his share of defensive support either.

He seems to have fallen out of favour at Lille, why is this?

He had his best run in the first half of season under Marcelo Bielsa.

But as Lille struggled and defensively-minded Christophe Galtier came in to steady the ship, he gradually lost his spot in the line-up to players more willing to show the stomach for a relegation fight.

Lille have signed three of four very talented attackers this summer, making it clear that Galtier and Lille have lost patience and are prepared to put more trust in others who have already proven themselves already in Ligue 1.

He's not tested himself in English football before, having joined Lille from Ajax, do you think he has what it takes to deal with the rigours of the Championship?

He should do.

He is tall and strong and so should be able to look after himself and use his physicality to his advantage.

I'm not entirely sure that he will want to though, and he wouldn't be the type of player whom I would immediately put down as a Steve Bruce type of player.

If he gets his attitude right, however, his strength, pace and nous could help him succeed.

Where would you say is his best position?

He is most comfortable on either wing, either cutting in from the left of preferably delivering crosses from the right.

Just 23 years old, does El-Ghazi have the potential to become something of a star player, in your opinion?

He is still young so there is certainly still time for him.

But he needs to get his head down and get back to the Ajax player that he was.

He has not pushed on for a couple of years now, has been forgotten about in the Netherlands set up, and is running out of time to really fulfill his potential.

Villa are obviously planning on bringing him in on-loan, do you think Lille would be happy to sell him permanently should he impress? And for what price?

Lille would be very happy to sell him as they constantly have the DNCG (the French football financial regulator) breathing down their necks.

At this stage they'll be happy to have his salary off the books, which was preventing them from registering a couple of their new signings.

They bought him for around eight million euros and such is the ridiculous market right now, especially in England, that they would probably be expecting to make a profit on him.

How much exactly will depend on how good a season he has and the state of Lille's finance next summer.

You can follow Jeremy on Twitter by searching for @jeremysmith98, and you can catch his work on French Football Weekly at @FrenchFtWeekly.