Anthony Onifade

Fri 5 January 2024 19:10, UK

Aston Villa loanee Nicolo Zaniolo has surely failed to convince Unai Emery at Villa Park who is already planning for life without him.

Signed on loan from Galatasaray during the summer, after injuries to both Jacob Ramsey and Emilian Buendia, the Italian international was supposed to provide Aston Villa with the cutting-edge influence in attack they needed to progress further this season.

While the Villans have been on track to do so, Zaniolo has proven rather anonymous so far in his Villa career, with the likes of John McGinn, Leon Bailey, Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins doing most of the work in attack.

In his ten Premier League games so far this season, he’s yet to register a single goal or an assist, has underperformed his expected assists (xA) tally of 0.52, expected goals (xG) of 1.49 and recorded just 0.6 key passes per game, registered zero big chances created and his shots on target per game are pretty woeful with just 0.4 [SofaScore].

His period in an Aston Villa shirt was made all the more concerning when he was forced to withdraw from the Azzurri training camp in Coverciano in November after police questioned him and Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali regarding the recent Serie A betting scandal.

One of his most concerning Villa displays, the 3-1 win over Luton Town on 29 October further reflected just how much Zaniolo is struggling to acclimatise himself despite his teammates playing with such superb confidence right now.

A booking in the 28th minute was as exciting as it got for the attacker, who touched the ball 28 times but only completed six total passes in the end [Sofascore].

Playing on the left-hand side, creativity is key which Ramsey showed several times last season but Zaniolo has had none of that, attempting two crosses which both failed as well as completing 0 per cent of his attempted dribbles.

Losing possession eight times in 45 minutes told the full story, with the Italian only winning three of his 11 duels both on the ground and in the air.

In his 45 minutes on the pitch against Nottingham Forest (5 November) it was a similar theme, he had just 23 touches of the ball, recorded a pass accuracy of 78 per cent from the nine passes he played and lost possession 12 times [SofaScore].

The Italy international has struggled to make an impact in claret and blue during his loan switch from Galatasaray, scoring only twice in 22 appearances for Aston Villa. His last start in the Premier League came against Bournemouth at the start of December with the Italian now emerging as a forgotten commodity at the club.

Zaniolo was hooked by Emery after only 45 minutes of action, having completed only three of his seven attempted passes in the half with a miserable completion rate of only 43 per cent [Fotmob].

Few players in the Premier League this season have been as ineffective in the final third as the Aston Villa loanee. When compared to his positional peers in the division, he places in the second percentile for pass completion percentage, per 90 minutes, finding teammates with only 64.9 per cent of his efforts [Fbref].

The Italian’s move to Villa was supposed to be the new lease of life he needed to get his career on the upward trajectory again but his move has somewhat been an unfortunate failure, just like his time at his parent club.

It remains unlikely whether Aston Villa will terminate his loan deal this month but with the January transfer window now open, Emery is already planning for life without him.

The Athletic reporter Jacob Tanswell shared on 3 January that Villa are planning to sign an attacker in January but may have to wait for the summer to make a move.

Sky Sports News also reported on Friday (5 January) that the club have identified an attacking target for the summer which means Zaniolo must now be planning for his next move away from Aston Villa ahead of the summer window.

He has five to six months to prove his mettle at Villa Park to attract the attention of other clubs around Europe.

In other Aston Villa news, Emery has handed one “highly-rated” youth star the perfect chance to develop with a new loan switch