View: Ismaila Sarr debacle leaves Aston Villa with identity crisis
By Jonty Banks
When Steven Gerrard arrived at Aston Villa in November of last year, fans were left in giddy anticipation of a potential assault on the upper echelons of the Premier League table.
‘The Gerrard Pull’ was in full flow in January, with the transfers of Philippe Coutinho and Lucas Digne a statement of intent, while Villa delivered the goods on the pitch, defeating Brighton and Crystal Palace in comfortable fashion.
What was notable when Gerrard arrived in the West Midlands was his clear, concise style of play.
Throughout his time at Rangers, Gerrard favoured a narrow 4-4-2 formation, filling the middle of the park with bodies and using his full-backs to provide width – and he continued in this vein at Villa.
However, fast forward nine months, and Villa’s hierarchy, but more importantly the management team find themselves under immense pressure, following a summer which promised so much but has left fans a little confused.
Before his side’s pre-season tour of Australia, Gerrard openly praised the board’s recruitment strategy – stating that “getting business done early” gave Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos plenty of time to bond and settle into his side’s style of play.
However, following an indifferent start to the season in which Villa’s midfield has resembled a bagel rather than a tight compact unit, and the defence looking extremely vulnerable, the club decided to place a bid of £25million for Watford winger Ismaila Sarr [Sky Sports].
Now there’s no problem with the player.
Sarr is an extremely talented footballer, and business-wise Villa would likely be getting brilliant value for money. However, it just feels very disjointed.
If Villa have suddenly decided to change from a narrow 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1 and start playing two wingers, then why not target wide men at the beginning of the transfer window, and not out of blind panic following a 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace.
A move to a formation including two wingers would disrupt all the transfer activity which Villa have conducted over the last two seasons.
A 4-2-3-1 would mean one of Coutinho or Emi Buendia would miss out. You think Watkins and Ings would make a good partnership up top. Think again. And leaving one of Jacob Ramsey, John McGinn or Kamara on the bench would also leave a sour note on the tongue.
The signing of Sarr did eventually hit a number of stumbling blocks and failed to go through at the last moment, with Gerrard later revealing that the club decided to move in a “different direction” instead.
What that different direction is, I’m not sure anybody knows.
In other Aston Villa news, PSV are looking at Anwar El Ghazi.