Unai Emery holds behind-the-scenes talks with Aston Villa star Leon Bailey as he’s benched v Legia Warsaw
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Unai Emery will have held behind-the-scenes talks with Leon Bailey to explain why he’s not starting for Aston Villa, according to Alan Hutton.
Bailey, 26, has been in fine form this season with six goals and six assists in 19 appearances across all competitions.
However, the Jamaica international has only started nine of those games, earning just two starts in the Premier League.
Bailey started on the bench for the first time in the Europa Conference League game on Thursday night as Villa beat Legia Warsaw 2-1 to reach the knock-out stages of the competition.
However, Hutton believes Bailey will totally understand why because Emery will have fully explained the reason behind his decision to not start the ex-Bayer Leverkusen forward.
“There’s a reason behind it,” Hutton told Villa News.
“It’s something to do with tactics and it’s not because Leon Bailey’s not a good player and he hasn’t played well at a high level because he is. He’s had an impact in most games he’s come on.
“Emery probably sat down and spoke with him to say, ‘these are the reasons why I’m doing this’ so he knows [where he stands]. That’s how you get the best out of players, it’s how you man-manage them.
“If Emery didn’t say anything, Bailey would have that feeling and think, ‘why’s there a full-back playing in front of me, what have I done wrong?’.
“But Emery will say why, he’ll say what he’s doing and later on in the game he’ll bring Bailey on.
“I’m pretty sure the manager will be speaking in those terms to his players.”
In other Aston Villa news, it is “done” for this central midfielder to quit Villa Park with a permanent transfer deal already agreed.