Aston Villa: Nicolo Zaniolo may face Unai Emery axe as new Fabrizio Romano update emerges
Aston Villa are enjoying one of their best seasons in recent memory under the management of Unai Emery as they continue to thrive in the Premier League and Europe.
The Villans have gone from strength to strength with the likes of Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey and Douglas Luiz all producing some of their best individual campaigns to help Emery’s side fly up the Premier League table.
That has made it hard for Emery to rotate his playing squad week in and week out however and it appears as though that lack of rotation has irritated some of the squad including Galatassary loanee Nicolo Zaniolo.
As quoted by Fabrizio Romano on X (26 March) Zaniolo said: “Bring me back to Serie A! I’m focused on Aston Villa, and then Galatasaray will decide my future. I miss Italy, of course… but my agent will inform me in case of concrete proposals.
“Unai Emery is one of the best managers in the world, at the same level of Pep Guardiola, Klopp and Mourinho. It’s true, I’m not having a lot of game time and I was expecting more.”
Will Aston Villa sign Nicolo Zaniolo permanently in the summer transfer window?
Zaniolo has only made seven starts in the Premier League this season, but the Italian has done very little to suggest that he should be starting week in and week out in the league when he has been handed a rare start.
His last domestic start came all the way back in December against Bournemouth and the 24-year-old only lasted until half-time before Emery took the decision to hook him after an anonymous showing.
Zaniolo only had 20 touches in the opening 45 minutes but only managed to complete three of his seven attempted passes as he repeatedly gifted the Cherries possession with reckless moments on the ball, according to Fotmob.
When compared to other midfielders in the Premier League this season, Zaniolo places in the first percentile for passes attempted per game, averaging only 24.24 passes every 90 minutes, according to Fbref.
Perhaps even more worryingly for Villa fans, the 24-year-old also places in the bottom one per cent for pass-completing percentage per match, only managing to find a teammate in claret and blue with 64.7 per cent of his efforts.
In total, the Italian was dispossessed on three occasions while also being bullied off of the ball as he lost 100 per cent of his attempted tackles and committed two fouls as he failed to make up for his poor mistakes.
Across the entire clash, Zaniolo won only two of his nine duels both in the air and on the ground as he looked massively off of the pace needed to be a success week in and week out in the Premier League.
83 per cent of midfielders in the Premier League have won more tackles per 90 minutes than the Villa loanee this term and 98 per cent of his positional peers have managed to make more interceptions per game.
On top of that, the attacking midfielder has committed more fouls a game than 99 per cent of the division’s midfielders, conceding more than three free-kicks per 90 minutes in his 20 league appearances this term.
Where will Nicolo Zaniolo go in the summer transfer window?
Zaniolo is in no position to complain about his lack of game time for Villa this season as he has never looked worthy of a place in Emery’s team when he has been handed a chance by the Villans boss.
If he was shining from the bench, he would be within his rights to voice his complaints but until then Zaniolo simply has to up his game before he speaks out against Emery like this again.
In other Aston Villa news, Emery is set to hand Cameron Archer a new chance at Villa Park after a new transfer update emerged
For more Aston Villa news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.