Aston Villa forward Leon Bailey is reportedly up for sale this summer, as Unai Emery continues to mould the squad into his own.
The 25-year-old joined us from Bayer Leverkusen in August 2021 and is under contract through to June 2025, but doubts have now been raised over whether or not he’ll still be at Villa Park beyond this summer.
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According to the Daily Mail, Bailey is for sale this summer, with Villa’s transfer strategy under Emery now expected to change and be more calculated, as seen with the move for Youri Tielemans and the expected arrival of Pau Torres imminently.
While the Jamaican international has shown his ability at times, it has been all too inconsistent as he managed just four goals and four assists in 33 Premier League appearances last season.
Injuries have also been a problem for him and have disrupted his progress, but despite Emery continuing to stick with him last year and play him through disappointing form, perhaps the Villa boss hasn’t seen enough progress and development from him to be convinced that he can be a key option he can rely upon moving forward.
It’s an area the Villa boss revealed he wanted to strengthen in January, but with no signing arriving to provide a solution, Bailey was given an extended run to try and emerge as the fix. However, he rarely looked like he could produce consistently in the final third, and arguably struggled in terms of adapting to Emery’s tactical demands too.
Bailey has contributed six goals and six assists in 54 outings in total since joining us, and so it appears as though we could now be moving in a different direction.
That said, much will depend on Villa’s valuation and if it is met by any interested parties this summer, as ideally we’ll be able to recoup as much of the initial outlay as possible, with BBC Sport reporting that we spent £25m to sign Bailey two summers ago.
Time will tell if that is indeed Villa’s intention, as ultimately significant changes are now expected at the club in Emery’s first summer transfer window, coupled with the arrival of Monchi as President of Football Operations.
