Omari Kellyman must be set for UECL action at Aston Villa after new Unai Emery call
Aston Villa would have hoped to have built off of their 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United when they welcomed Chelsea to Villa Park for their FA Cup replay, but Unai Emery’s side were given a taste of their own medicine.
Goals from Conor Gallagher, Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez meant that Moussa Diaby’s injury-time strike was little more than a consolation as Villa crashed out of the FA Cup in the fourth round on Wednesday (7 February).
Most supporters will be keen to forget about the defeat and turn their attention to Sunday (11 February) afternoon’s clash with Manchester United and focus on their push for Champions League football, however, there was one bright spark for Villa to reflect on first.
Among the substitutes on Emery’s bench on Wednesday, 18-year-old academy graduate Omari Kellyman featured and that could potentially be a hint that Villa supporters should expect to see more of the teenager in the second half of the campaign.
Omari Kellyman has a role to play in Unai Emery’s Aston Villa
Kellyman has been named among the subs sporadically this season but has so far only made two first-team appearances, starting Villa’s 3-0 win over Hibernian in the Europa Conference League and coming on for a late cameo against Everton in the Carabao Cup.
Against the Toffees, the teenager managed to make his mark in just 12 minutes of action, completing his only attempted pass and managing to win 100 per cent of his ground duels and tackles in a combative display, stats via Fotmob.
Similarly, against Hibs, Kellyman managed to pick up an assist and play the full 90 minutes as Emery’s Aston Villa strolled to victory.
He may only be young and he has only just returned from injury, but it is clear the versatile attacker has a role to play at Villa Park for the remainder of the season.
He may not have got off of the bench against Chelsea, but his appearance in the squad would suggest that he remains part of Emery’s thinking and that could well see him feature once the Europa Conference League gets back underway.
Aston Villa can name a larger bench for Cup and European matches than they can in the Premier League and the slightly lower quality of football means that it remains an excellent opportunity for teams to bed in their younger talent.
Many teams would have opted to loan a young prospect like Kellyman out to an EFL side during the January window, but it is clear that Emery wants him in and around his first team.
It may not be week in and week out, but Wednesday was a further demonstration that Emery trusts the 18-year-old to play an important role for his side this term.
In other Aston Villa news, Gabby Agbonlahor has labelled Emi Martinez the best in the world after his recent displays for Emery’s side
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