Dean Smith: Neal Maupay price was too high for Aston Villa

The former Brentford hitman was heavily linked with Villa before eventually joining Premier League rivals Brighton in a deal worth around £20million.

Smith has now admitted Maupay, who played under him for the Bees, was a target but claims Villa were effectively priced out of a move.

The newly-promoted club spent £127million on 12 new signings yet Smith, familiar with working on a budget from his time in charge at Walsall, insists he will always look for deals which offer value for money.

He said: “Those values have never left me. I try and treat the money as if it were my own as I did at Walsall.

“With Maupay, for instance, I love him as a player but the numbers that were getting talked about, for me, were too much. There are a lot of players out there you would obviously like.

“What you want if you are going to bring a player in is you to increase that value.

“What you don’t want is to decrease it because otherwise you are not doing a very good job.”

The Maupay admission came while Smith was discussing football’s finances in the week when Bury were expelled from the league.

Smith expressed his sadness at the plight of the Shakers, while acknowledging Villa themselves had a lucky escape barely 12 months ago.

Failure to win promotion through the 2018 play-offs left the club on the brink of administration before they were rescued by billionaire duo Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens.

Smith said: “We all know the trouble Aston Villa was in after that play-off final defeat to Fulham. It was scary for a club like Villa to potentially go into liquidation.

“We are very fortunate the owners who took over are very wealthy men who have the club at heart and the best interests of how they want to get the club moving forward.

“There is an awful lot of big football clubs in the Championship who are pushing the boat out trying to get back into the Premier League because of the financial rewards that are in there.

“Tread that path with caution because not every team can be successful and the ones that aren’t are the ones who can get caught out.

“There are a lot of very well run football clubs out there with local people in charge and benefactors looking after the football clubs.

“It is very sad when you see a club like Bury and the struggles Bolton have had as well.

“I had some good times and tough times at Gigg Lane. It is a small club with a smaller fanbase but none less loving of the club than Aston Villa fans are. It is a sad day to see them to go out of the league.”