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Keinan Davis goal drought in Championship has confirmed the worst fears of Aston Villa
If Aston Villa loanee Keinan Davis had hoped a spell at Championship side Watford would be the key to unlocking his full potential, he has unfortunately been proven otherwise.
The Villans striker has struggled for game time at Villa Park since bursting onto the scene under Steve Bruce in the Championship and has spent successive seasons on loan at Nottingham Forest and Vicarage Road.
His loan spell with the Hornets has a £15million obligation to buy if the club manage to get promoted to the Premier League this season, according to Ashley Preece – and Villa will surely think this is business well done after the striker’s struggles in recent months.
Davis hasn’t scored a goal for Watford in 1,080 minutes, with the last time he got his name on the scoresheet coming in the 4-0 over Luton Town on October 23. [Transfermarkt]
This is a total of 14 games without a goal, and surely Aston Villa will now be considering a permanent exit for the 25-year-old in the summer transfer window regardless of what happens at Watford.
This problem always was the case with Davis at Villa Park, as although much of his build-up play was lauded by fans, he always struggled to place the cherry on top with a goal.
During his three seasons with the Aston Villa first-team, the Englishman never managed to score more than two goals in a single league campaign, and as a result, was always a bit-part figure within the club.
According to Opta-powered stats on the FBRef website, over the last 365 days, Davis is in the 26th percentile of strikers for non-penalty goals per 90 minutes among the men’s next eight competitions beneath Europe’s big five leagues.
The dire numbers, unfortunately, continue for the Englishman in front of goal, lying in the bottom half of strikers for shot-creating actions, total shots and assists.
The statistics show that Davis is a key player in Slaven Bilic’s build-up play, but when it comes to having a clinical edge in front of goal, he is clearly lacking confidence. With talented wingers Ismaila Sarr and Joao Pedro on either side of him in attack, his goal drought is made to look that bit more alarming.
Instead of giving the Villa hierarchy food for thought with a barnstorming run of form, Davis has confirmed that he doesn’t possess the tool necessary to force his way into Unai Emery’s proceedings at Villa Park.
In other Aston Villa news, one of the club’s rising stars can end a barren academy run going back to Jack Grealish.