Aston Villa: Nicolo Zaniolo would be lucky to play again after Villa Park transfer rumours
Nicolo Zaniolo would be lucky to play for Aston Villa again this season after his shockingly poor displays against Manchester City and Brentford.
The Italian was handed his first start since December by Unai Emery when they travelled to the Etihad and completely failed to make the most of it, before struggling off the bench against Brentford.
Despite his lack of game time and poor performances since arriving at Villa Park, a former coach of the attacker recently spoke out to claim he should be looking at a transfer move to a “super” club in Europe.
Nicolo Zaniolo should never play for Aston Villa again
In the 4-1 defeat to Manchester City, Zaniolo turned in a terrible performance before being dragged off after just 77 minutes and having touched the ball only 26 times during that period. [Sofascore]
Nothing went right for Villa on the day, but the Italian’s performance in particular earned some major criticism, mainly after turning his back on Phil Foden’s free kick which put City ahead and was labelled “diabolical”.
He played just 11 passes at an average of one pass every seven minutes, recorded a 0 per cent crossing accuracy and long ball accuracy, failed to complete a single dribble despite his two attempts and lost possession nine times – almost as many as he completed passes.
With just three of ten attempted duels won and having been dribbled past twice, he also failed to help Emery’s team at the other end in what was a disastrous performance.
More recently though, Zaniolo came off the bench for a 22-minute cameo against Brentford but failed to make an impact as he completed zero per cent of his crosses, zero per cent of his long passes and lost possession four times from just ten touches.
These performances are more than just a dip in form, they’re the culmination of what has been an awful loan spell. He would be lucky to get in Emery’s first team again, let alone find this “super” move which has been mooted for him.
In other Aston Villa news, Ollie Watkins is keeping Villa’s Champions League hopes alive.
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