View: Leon Bailey’s Jamaica performance suggests he should not be starting at Aston Villa
Aston Villa ace Leon Bailey failed to make an impression for Jamaica during his nation’s 1-0 victory over Honduras in their CONCACAF Nations League clash on Friday 9 September.
Bailey has featured sporadically so far this season, with manager Unai Emery choosing not to utilise him in every game. The forward, who has played as a right-winger in recent matches, has started just two of his side’s four league games, grabbing a goal and an assist against Everton.
He also started both legs of their UEFA Europa Conference League tie against Hibernian, scoring in the home and away fixtures. However, he clearly does not have the full trust of his manager as he begins his third season at Villa Park.
The 26-year-old was signed by previous boss Dean Smith in a deal worth £25million (BBC Sport, 4 August 2021), and made an underwhelming start to life in the Premier League. He started just seven times in the league during the 2021/22 campaign, making a further 11 appearances from the bench, scoring on one occasion and providing two assists.
Last season he showed signs of improvement, starting 26 times in the league while making a further seven appearances from the bench, and scoring four times while providing four assists. However, he has so far not done much in a Villa shirt to justify his price tag and failed to show any signs of improvement against Honduras.
Bailey started the match on the right, and failed to manage a shot on target, having just the one off. He made just one successful dribble, only attempting two, and completed 65 per cent of his passes, misplacing eight of the 23 he attempted. He failed to provide an accurate cross into the box, despite playing on the wing and gave the ball away 18 times (Sofascore).
Defensively, he won just 50 per cent of his ground duels (nine out of 18) and aerial duels (two out of four) and made four fouls.
Ultimately, it was nothing to write home about, and certainly won’t convince his club boss to start including him in any more starting lineups than he already is.
In other Aston Villa news, one other star’s form has become a cause for concern.