As Aston Villa reach the crunch point in our season, loanee Nicolo Zaniolo’s future will likely be determined by what happens in the next month or so.
Our pursuit of a top-four finish in the Premier League continues with just five games remaining, while we’ll hope to advance to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League this week.
READ MORE: Villa ace shines as he fills key void and justifies Emery belief
In order to continue to compete on both fronts and edge closer to our objectives this year, Unai Emery will call upon his entire squad to contribute when needed, and Zaniolo will certainly feature heavily between now and the end of the season.
As per the official Galatasaray X account, Villa signed the Italian playmaker on a season-long loan deal from the Turkish giants last summer, and while there was an initial £4.25m fee for his initial switch, there is said to be a conditional compulsory purchase option included in the agreement where we’d have to pay £19.2m, plus £13.2m in potential add-ons, to sign him on a permanent basis.
It’s unclear at this stage what would trigger his move becoming permanent as it could be related to number of appearances or performance related, but having featured 36 times so far this season (12 of which were starts), scoring three goals with no assists, time will tell if Villa are happy to exercise that option.
What is clear though is that Emery has been keen to publicly praise the 24-year-old more regularly in recent weeks, as the Villa boss has evidently been pleased with the improvement he’s seen, and there has been a shift not only in his impact on the pitch, but his mentality and approach off it too.
“I am very happy for him,” he told the media after our win over Arsenal. “At the beginning of the season it was very difficult and the impression was not easy but I told you and told him one or two months ago, something changed. He was focusing more and better, training more and better, focusing each match as well helping the team, playing 10 minutes, 20, 30, 45, 60, and today he showed it. We needed him, I told him before and today he showed us. From here until the end of the season, we will need these players available.”
Albeit that Galatasaray fans may have had a significant say in it, but Zaniolo was named our Player of the Match in our win over Arsenal on Sunday, but there’s no denying that the Italian international played an important role in securing all three points at the Emirates.
His physicality, technical quality and link-up play was key to helping us pose an attacking threat, while he worked tirelessly on and off the ball to give us control and a presence down our left flank as we imposed ourselves well on Arsenal as the game progressed.
Naturally, we would have hoped for more goals and assists from Zaniolo this season as he has the talent and potential to be more decisive, but what has been crucial for Emery is his ability to adapt, play his role in the collective performance, and ensure we’ve been successful even without a number of key players due to injury.
With Jacob Ramsey and Emiliano Buendia to come back next season, coupled with the January signing of Morgan Rogers, competition for places is already fierce, and there is every chance that Emery looks to improve and strengthen the squad further in the summer.
Zaniolo though has the opportunity between now and the end of the season to not only leave his mark as a Villa player in what could be a turning point in our future, but having gained the trust of Emery, shown he can be an important option at his disposal and is already settled within the squad, time will tell if Villa press ahead to make his move permanent, either by activating that compulsory option or otherwise, and ensure he will return next season.
A relentless display. 👏
Nicolò Zaniolo is your #ARSAVL Player of the Match, presented by Castore! ⭐ pic.twitter.com/EPMlFvP5gs
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 15, 2024
