Aston Villa podcaster Andy Bates has been sharing his thoughts on Villa’s Brazilian striker Wesley and how the club could have helped him throughout his first season at the Birmingham club.
This comes after Bates recently made an appearance on Villa-themed podcast Gather ‘Round The Lamp where he spoke about a variety of subjects concerning the club.
On the subject of Wesley and his first season at Villa after the club signed him from Club Brugge in the 2019 summer transfer window, Bates had this to say on the striker.
He said: “The one thing that I did want us to do last season, really, was to bring someone in to spend more time with Wesley.
“I felt like Wesley could have really used a bit of one-to-one time. I had this idea, this crazy idea I suppose, that John Terry could have had a word with [Didier] Drogba and got him to come in for a few months and work with Wesley – which, you know, it sounds a bit mad, but I suppose the idea is that Wesley, [a] young player coming into the Premier League and [with] a big price tag on his shoulders and I suppose that’s the only thing that I would say.”
Wesley didn’t have the best debut season at Villa, having only scored five goals in his first 21 Premier League appearances before suffering a season-ending injury in January.
However, Wesley’s performances in the 21 league appearances he made for Villa last season earned him a respectable season rating of 6.76/10, making him Villa’s sixth-highest rated player for last season (per WhoScored).
Do you think Wesley was playing well for Villa before his injury?
Yes, he was doing well
No, he was struggling
TIF Thoughts…
Given how Wesley, who is currently valued at £21.6 million, only managed to score five goals in the league for Villa before unfortunately picking up his bad injury, it’s no surprise that Bates thinks that the club could have made more of an effort to work with Wesley to help him adapt to the Premier League.