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Aston Villa hat-trick hero Conor Hourihane has reportedly been a transfer target for Brighton and Hove Albion this summer.

According to the Sun on Sunday, the newly promoted Premier League club have been monitoring his situation at Villa.

Hourihane has been in and out of Steve Bruce’s team since arriving from Championship rivals Barnsley in January.

But the Birmingham Mail understands that Villa were keen to keep Hourihane even before his winning treble yesterday.

The Irish playmaker took his scoring to four goals in a week with his hat-trick in yesterday’s 4-2 Villa Park victory over Norwich City.

Bruce hopes Hourihane return to the form he showed at Barnsley will kickstart his claret and blue career and the manager has challenged the 26-year-old to become Villa’s creative kingpin.

After the win on Saturday, the boss said: “When we bought him from Barnsley he’d got the top assists in the league and he still finished with the top assists.

“But he found it a bit difficult here to settle in. He didn’t have the confidence and swagger that he had at Barnsley where he was the kingpin.

“That might give him the confidence.

“We always knew he was a good young player to have around the place and that bit of confidence came oozing out today when he scored his goal. He’s got four in a week which is terrific stuff.”