Although it’s still very early in Enzo Barrenechea’s time at Aston Villa, it has to be said that the summer recruit has wasted no time in making a positive impression.
The 23-year-old arrived as part of our dealings with Juventus which saw Douglas Luiz move in the opposite direction, and while there was rightly concern over how we would fill the void that the Brazilian international leaves behind, our astute moves in the transfer market thus far suggest we’ve done a pretty good job of it.
READ MORE: Why Villa ace’s exit is disappointing but ultimately the smart decision
Ross Barkley, Amadou Onana and others will all play pivotal roles in that too, but perhaps with the potential of becoming a somewhat surprise solution, Barrenechea is showing promising signs on and off the pitch in terms of his ability to be a crucial option for Unai Emery when needed.
Again, it’s important to stress that it is still early in the summer to be making in-depth judgements, be it either positive or negative, but we can only go on what we’ve seen thus far and it’s certainly been mostly positive.
The Argentine midfielder has been involved in both of our pre-season games so far and is expected to feature heavily during our tour in the USA, and he has shown key attributes and qualities that have made it clearer as to why Villa were keen to receive him in return from the Turin giants rather than touted alternative options.
With his intelligence and positional awareness to find space in midfield, which in turn gives him time to pick his head up, assess the pitch and play the right pass, combined with his technical ability and passing range, he has shown signs of being able to give us that all-important control that Emery craves.
The Villa boss has consistently spoken about it throughout his tenure, and it’s a fundamental principle in his philosophy on how he wants us to play as that control gives us the upper hand in both the attacking and defensive phases. We just have to look back to last season and see how week in and week out he would be either shouting at, or in discussion with, Luiz, as he explained what he wanted from his midfield orchestrator.
On top of that, Barrenechea gave his first VillaTV interview earlier this week, and the maturity and focus that he displayed in that brief discussion was a real confidence boost in itself, as he appears to have the right mentality and level-headedness to be successful at this level, or at the very least, give it the best possible shot.
Time will ultimately tell just how prominently he features in Emery’s plans, as he undoubtedly has stiff competition to overcome to secure a place in the Villa XI. That said, if he continues to display the qualities that the Villa boss wants to see and needs for his team to function in the way he prefers, Barrenechea could prove to be a wonderful signing who not only elevates his own game, but helps us to evolve and progress too.
