Villa boss Smith singles out the Irons danger man
Like everybody else who has had a sight of the 25 year old Frenchman he has been mightily impressed with what he has seen.
Haller has drawn such widespread praise that he could seen become a heavily marked man.
Yet even that isn’t too much a worry having seen how he shrugs off the attention of defenders clustered around him to find team-mates in space.
His three goals have all been of different types and his ball holding and line leading is something to behold at times.
And in paying him the compliment of singling him out for special mention at his presser ahead of the game today, Smith confirmed just what a signing the Hammers made at around £45 million in the summer after losing out on Maxi Gomez.
Smith said: “Haller up front, he looks a really good centre-forward. They paid a lot of money for him. He’s got a couple of good goals already, and he looks a real handful.”