Journalist Dan Bardell has claimed that Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey will ‘take over’ as the new Jack Grealish when he’s fit and playing regularly.
Over the summer, Villa lost their captain and talisman to Manchester City for the more than reasonable price of £100m. They swiftly reinvested that money in a number of new signings, such as Danny Ings, Emi Buendia, and Ashley Young.
However, Bailey is the player who Bardell believes can step into the shoes of Grealish and become ‘the one’ to take Villa forward this season.
While discussing Bailey on the 1874 podcast, Bardell explained his high expectations of the new Villan, saying: “I really feel like he’s going to be the one for Villa. He’s going to take over the Grealish mantle of being the go-to guy.
“Because in his brief cameos so far, he’s looked unplayable.”
TIF thoughts on Leon Bailey and Aston Villa…
Bailey has made a pretty strong impact in England to this point, despite having only had a limited amount of time to impress. Indeed, in just 85 minutes of Premier League football for his new club, he has provided one goal and one assist – not to mention the pinpoint delivery for Lucas Digne’s own goal against Everton prior to scoring his first goal for the club.
Still, with Grealish scoring 32 goals and claiming 43 assists in over 213 appearances for the club – which also saw him help his side gain promotion – Bailey has a lot to do before he can truly reach the same level of adoration the Villa fans used to hold for their former captain.
Will Leon Bailey be as good as Jack Grealish for Villa?
Yes
No
The early signs, however, do look promising for the club’s new attacker. If he can stay fit in the coming months, he could well become a key man for Smith as the club aim to continue their upward trajectory.
In other news: ‘That’ll be sorted’ – AVFC journalist expects contract renewal ‘in the coming weeks’