It’s been a challenging first season with Aston Villa, but Ian Maatsen has seemingly relished the battle he’s had in trying to establish himself under Unai Emery.
The 23-year-old arrived in a big-money move from Chelsea last summer, and although he’s gone on to make 40 appearances across all competitions so far this season, they haven’t all come as a consistent starter in the Villa XI.
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Lucas Digne’s form and reliability has been a key factor in that as the Frenchman hasn’t given up his starting spot without a fight, and he has deservedly featured heavily this season having performed at a solid level.
Further, the defensive side of Maatsen’s game has been identified as a weakness, and while it was on show again for the goal that we conceded in our 4-1 win over Newcastle Utd this weekend, he is starting to show improvement in that phase of his game.
The Dutchman made a number of key interventions as the game went on, using his aggressive and intense style of defending to win possession back and get us moving up the pitch, but it’s obvious that his attacking qualities far outweigh the defensive concerns, and he’s certainly a good fit for Emery’s preferred style of play with his energy and technical ability going down the left flank.
With two goals and two assists in those 40 outings, we can’t say we’ve seen the best of Maatsen in attacking areas either quite yet, with Digne again showing his quality with seven assists in 41 appearances.
In turn, Emery has utilised both depending on the opposition and the context of the game, and as we build momentum and peak in the business end of the campaign, he’s done that effectively and kept both players fresh and fit for the run-in.
For Maatsen though, scoring his first Premier League goal this weekend would have been a big moment for him. The run was brilliant as he stormed past Ollie Watkins on the overlap down the left side into space, and after a perfectly-weighted ball was played into his path, he produced a top-class finish to score a pivotal goal in the encounter to help us on our way to a 4-1 win.
That’s the level of play and the dynamic we need from the Dutch defender on a more consistent basis, and if he can do that, coupled with continuing to make improvements defensively, there’s little doubt that he’ll eventually emerge as our long-term solution at left-back.
He has to find that balance though as if he remains vulnerable defensively, that required trust with Emery won’t be built and sustained, and so he’ll have to continue to work hard to develop his all-round game, prove he can be a reliable option in both phases, and perform at the standard required to help us become increasingly competitive.
Crucially, he has shown the right attitude, desire and willingness to learn and improve as he adapts to the demands from the Villa boss, and that will hopefully continue to result in his development into a top left-back as we continue to push on in our pursuit of success.
This was pure football 😌 pic.twitter.com/RQPu2qigc6
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 19, 2025
