Aston Villa ace Leon Bailey ready to explode next season, goal creation stats do not tell full story
It was a truly remarkable Premier League campaign for Aston Villa, who managed to secure seventh place in the table despite their disastrous start to the season.
A lot of the credit must go to the hugely talented Unai Emery, with the Spaniard working his magic in the dugout to get the best out of his players.
And one player that has come out of his shell under Emery is Leon Bailey, with the 25-year-old finally showing his potential at Villa Park.
He has been a frustrating figure for supporters since his big-money switch from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2021.
Injuries have certainly played their part in his initial struggles, but a lack of form and confidence resulted in just four goals and four assists from his 33 league matches this time around.
For a winger, such figures are not quite right if Aston Villa are to enjoy another strong campaign next time out, but those goal creation statistics don’t tell the full story.
As per Opta Analyst, Bailey boasted an Expected Assists (xA) figure of 0.21, level with the likes of Arsenal icons Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard, and ahead of Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah (0.20).
That total is made more impressive given how Bailey played fewer minutes than all three of those Premier League stars.
Moreover, no other Aston Villa attacker made more carries per 90 than Bailey (12), while only Jacob Ramsey (13.20 metres) had a greater average carry distance than the Jamaican international (12.66 metres).
Both players sit top of the list when it comes to those carries ending in a key pass (15), with Bailey joined by Ollie Watkins at the top regarding total chance creating carries (34).
He is certainly ready to explode.
In other Aston Villa news, one fan favourite is now ready to light up the Euro stage after a breakthrough stat emerged.