Evann Guessand raises huge concern at Aston Villa after what happened vs Brentford
Evann Guessand came in from the start for Aston Villa against Brentford.
Guessand signed for Villa from OGC Nice in the summer, in what was the only big-money signing at Villa Park in a frustrating window.
This saw the 24-year-old make his starting debut for Villa in the 3-0 loss against Crystal Palace, where chances were at a premium for the versatile forward.
As a result, it was positive to see Unai Emery give the Ivorian a chance in the Carabao Cup as Villa fell to penalty shootout defeat against Brentford on Tuesday night.
In the end, Guessand has raised more concerns than plus points after what was a disappointing showing in the capital.
Evann Guessand was poor vs Brentford
Eyebrows were raised when Guessand didn’t feature for the Ivory Coast in their opening game of the international break, before getting just 16 minutes in the second.
This could point to him not being ready for regular first-team football after moving from Ligue 1 to the Premier League.
With that being said, there have been some positive flashes from the attacker, but the word “raw” springs to mind when watching him for the Villans.
There looks to be a player there to be unlocked, but for the most part, against Brentford, there was little substance to his efforts to shine.
This saw Guessand do very little with his 42 touches across 80 minutes of action as he failed to have a single shot at the Gtech Community Stadium, according to Sofascore.
He also maintained a zero per cent dribble success rate while also losing out on a crazy eight duels, something which is far from good enough for a player of his stature and physicality.
It wasn’t as if the Ivorian was massively helping out defensively either, contributing just one clearance and two interceptions, while also failing to complete one of his two attempted tackles.
Considering a fee upwards of £30million was outlaid on the 24-year-old, Emery already has a concern on his hands at Villa Park.
Evann Guessand could be a waste of money at Aston Villa
Given how reluctant Villa were to spend money in the summer, it says a lot that they were willing to spend a sizable fee on the man from Nice.
This is encouraging, but there have been very few signs of positivity from the versatile attacker in his opening four appearances in all competitions.
| Stat (Premier League 25/26) | Evann Guessand |
| Appearances | 3 |
| Expected goals | 0.07 |
| Shots | 0.30 |
| Expected assists | 0.02 |
| Dribble success rate (%) | 17.00 |
Obviously, with more minutes in English football under his belt, he should get better, but at the moment, Villa can’t afford to wait on that to happen.
Having gone five games in all competitions without a win, Guessand needs to hit the ground running and quickly, or risk being labelled a flop early on in his B6 spell.
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