Aston Villa: Unai Emery must unleash £52m star Moussa Diaby more regularly
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery must hand record signing Moussa Diaby more game-time.
The French winger joined from Bayer Leverkusen last summer for an eye-watering £52million but has been in and out of the team over the last few months.
The 24-year-old has racked up just 1,725 Premier League minutes this season – only the ninth-most in the Villa squad and fewer than full-backs Lucas Digne and Matty Cash.
Given the great expense at which the club procured his services, it would surely be in the club’s best interests to unlock the obvious talent that Diaby possesses.
Aston Villa would benefit from an in-form Moussa Diaby
Diaby began the campaign as a regular starter, playing just off Ollie Watkins in a central attacking role.
He started each of the club’s first 13 Premier League matches – but after being hooked by Emery at half-time in the 2-1 win over Tottenham on 26 November, his playing time in the competition became markedly less consistent.
He has not completed 90 minutes in the league since then, starting just seven of the subsequent 19 fixtures.
Naturally, his productivity has suffered somewhat due to his patchy game-time. Five goals and seven assists is not bad, but also surely far from the impact he would have been expected to have – though that tally works out to a goal or assist every 143.75 minutes, which is certainly respectable.
It is those flashes of quality when he has been on the pitch, such as his match-winning display against Wolves on 30 March, where he both scored and assisted in the 2-0 win, or against Burnley in August, where he again scored and assisted as Villa claimed a 3-1 victory.
He has the capacity to be decisive – but regular rhythm is crucial to getting the best out of a player who managed 14 goals and 11 assists across all competitions last season for Leverkusen.
In other Aston Villa news, a £40m behind-the-scenes agreement has ‘upset’ Villa fans.
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