View: Leon Bailey must rediscover Leverkusen swagger to excel at Aston Villa
The signing of Leon Bailey last summer caused a lot of excitement among Aston Villa fans but he didn’t hit the heights we were expecting.
The Jamaican international did produce the odd moment of magic here and there but it was not the highlight-filled campaign Dean Smith would have had in mind which may have been a reason for his sacking and Steven Gerrard taking over.
Even he, as an ex-England captain, couldn’t get the sweet spot out of Bailey last season but the 2022-23 campaign should offer the 24-year-old the perfect platform to reset and find his feet properly in England.
Just one Premier League goal was not good enough at any level over the past 12 months but if he can find his swagger again then he could catapult himself into the Premier League limelight.
You only have to look at this four-minute compilation the Bundesliga YouTube channel of his best bits at Bayer Leverkusen to see what an electric player we have at our disposal when he’s brimmed full of confidence.
In an Aston Villa shirt, Bailey doesn’t even consider shooting from this distance and would play in the onrushing full-back instead but when he has that swagger, he backs himself and scores a stunner.
He is also much less direct than he was in Germany where he would happily run head-on at defenders and, as seen above, be able to twist in and out to bemuse his opponents.
The Gerrard style of play with plenty of passing has stifled any aggressive nature in the Jamaican’s game and it is not doing him any favours.
What we really need to do is play on the counter-attack because that is where Bailey’s lightning speed will make the biggest impact.
On this occasion for Leverkusen, his lung-busting run begins well inside his own half but no defender can get anywhere near him once the afterburners go on.
Which means that by the time he reaches the box with the ball at his feet, he has all the time in the world to pick his spot and perfect the finish.
Aston Villa can unlock this version of Bailey this season but it has to be in a system and ideology that plays into his strengths because it is a waste of his talent otherwise.
In other Aston Villa news, Gerrard is in the process of making his fifth summer signing with an agreement reached with this La Liga club.