It hasn’t always been a very smooth road at Villa Park for the Jamaican winger, but he has started to really flourish in recent months under the guidance of boss Unai Emery
When Leon Bailey joined Aston Villa in 2021, the assessments were a little patronising at times. Here was a footballer, highly rated and scouted by all the top clubs, who many said was probably making the right move by limiting himself to the Premier League’s lower to mid-table.
“He’s probably fine for Dean Smith’s Aston Villa,” most shrugged. Doubtless his ability would occasionally dazzle, but he lacked both the killer instinct and the consistency for any of the alleged big sides to feel like they’d missed out. Sure enough, two years later, with his time under both Smith and Steven Gerrard blighted by loss of form and injury, he found himself taking to social media to apologise to the club’s fans. In his opinion, his late miss of an open goal against Wolves cost Villa a vital three points.
That fateful day in January 2023 feels like a long time ago now. Under Unai Emery, the Jamaican has been reborn as one of the league’s most reliably effective attackers, mirroring the club’s ascent to prove himself at the very top level.
By late February, he’d more than doubled both his goal and assist tallies from 2022-23, pushing Moussa Diaby out of the starting XI.
01FINDING HIS FEET
Of Villa’s first 13 league games this season, Bailey played more than half of the game only once – restricted to late cameo appearances as a substitute, or as a sacrificial tactical makeweight in Emery’s customary half-time change.
In early December though, Bailey started against Manchester City and Arsenal, scoring the decisive late goal against the former and getting the vital assist against the latter.
He then became a regular starter – Emery settled on an innovative narrow 4-4-2 that asks the ‘wingers’ to move into the centre, while both the forwards look to exploit the wide space that then leaves. With Ollie Watkins normally deployed as one of those forwards, it’s usually down to his partner to prioritise that action and allow him to stay in central goalscoring areas.
But more than just being a good fit for one of those wide positions, Bailey has emerged as a model of decision making. The role balances chance conversion and creation – that his goal and assist contributions have been near equal says a lot.
02FINDING HIS OTHER FOOT
Bai
