View: The forgotten but nonetheless important tale of Trezeguet at Aston Villa
Former Aston Villa winger Trezeguet was often lambasted for his lack of end product in the West Midlands, but the role he played in keeping the club in the Premier League should go down in folk law.
The Egyptian, dubbed “back post-Trez” by fans due to his trait of nicking important goals at the far stick, joined Turkish club Trabzonspor last summer after ultimately failing to make the grade under Steven Gerrard.
After gaining promotion to the Premier League in the summer of 2019, Villa snapped up the lively attacker in the summer transfer window from Kasimpasa, but he quickly looked out of place in English football.
Throughout his opening season in 2019/20, he looked slow, lethargic and lacked the physical attributes to make a name for himself at Villa Park, but one thing he had in abundance was heart.
As Aston Villa’s season looked to be dwindling towards Premier League relegation with Smith’s side seven points from safety, a Sunday lunchtime kickoff against Crystal Palace was looked upon with resignation by many fans.
But up stepped the most unlikely of heroes, Trezeguet.
As the game drifted towards the interval goalless, Conor Hourihane curled a freekick towards Joel Ward, who could only palm the ball away for an unmarked and surprised Trezeguet to prod home.
The attacker followed this up with a neat second-half strike that helped Villa claim a crucial three points and climb to within four points of Watford and Everton in the Premier League table.
Just a week later, Trezeguet was once again on hand to down Champions League-chasing Arsenal, with a trademark back-post strike past Gunners keeper Emi Martinez.
The Egyptian’s goal was the only strike of the game and helped Villa claim back-to-back wins and consecutive clean sheets as they rose out of the drop zone for the first time in almost two months.
Considering he scored just six goals all season long and a measly nine times in 64 games during his stint in claret and blue, it really was a remarkable return to form at a quite pivotal point in Aston Villa’s history.
Simply put, write Trezeguet off at your peril.
If the club had succumbed to relegation in 2019/20 directly after promotion from the Championship, the financial implications would have been grave, and who knows what state the club would be in now.
They certainly wouldn’t have just hired four-time Europa League winner Unai Emery as manager, that’s for sure.
While Jack Grealish took the plaudits for his season-defining goal on the final day of the season against West Ham, it was, in fact, Trezeguet who did the heavy lifting and blasted Villa towards a miraculous escape from relegation.
In other Aston Villa news, a 17-year-old academy prospect has signed his first professional contract with the club.