Unai Emery has had great success at Aston Villa with their recruitment approach. A year ago, the team qualified for the Europa Conference League thanks to his astute and planned market movements. Prior to this, the Spaniard had only taken over a failing club seven months earlier.
Villa’s success has undoubtedly been largely attributed to the Spaniard’s fervor and obsessive devotion to the cause, as well as his astute tactical execution, but it’s also undeniable that the players he signed were deliberate and accurate in their choices.
Fans may be expecting big names now that the team has qualified for the Champions League with a top-four Premier League finish, and although that may be the case, Emery’s team has made a wise move in signing former loanee Ross Barkley.
Why Ross Barkley is being signed by Aston Villa.
It’s not over yet, but it seems like Barkley is moving to Villa Park after having a mixed season in the Midlands in 2020–21 while on loan from Chelsea. He scored on his thrilling debut in a 7–2 rout of Liverpool, but his career soon fell apart due to injuries and difficulties with tactical integration, which limited him to just 18 starts.
The 30-year-old, however, has now matured into a sophisticated and dominant presence in the engine room. He has been a standout for Luton Town this season and was even referred to as “not far off Player of the Season” by Sky Sports analyst Paul Merson.
In 32 Premier League games this season, Barkley has scored five goals and provided four assists for The Hatters, according to Sofascore. Barkley is right in the thick of things, averaging 61.2 touches per game, which is pretty impressive considering that newly promoted and quickly demoted Luton had the second-fewest touches (129,656) of any team in the division.
In addition, he completed 85% of his passes, averaged 2.1 dribbles, 6.3 ball recoveries, 1.5 crucial passes, tackles, and clearances, and 6.1 successful duels per game. This is an impressive set of data that validates his abilities and previous commendation from Chelsea teammate Cesc Fabregas, who referred to him as a “machine” due to his remarkable output.
In fact, FBref ranks the six-foot-two star among the top 7% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for goals scored over the past year, the top 11% for shot-creating actions, and the top 1% for successful take-ons per ninety. His performances have earned him comparisons to John McGinn and Douglas Luiz. He is skilled at breaking through defenses and letting his creativity run wild in the final third.
