Aston Villa brought in a host of new signings this summer.
Aston Villa winger Anwar El Ghazi has told the Birmingham Mail that the language barrier with some of the club’s new signings has been difficult.
Villa have opened their return to the Premier League with two defeats, but it’s fair to say they came in slightly different circumstances.
Villa were 1-0 up at Tottenham on the opening day, only to lose 3-1 as Spurs’ quality broke through in the end, whereas early defensive errors handed Bournemouth a 2-0 lead on Saturday.
Douglas Luiz did pull one back, but Villa didn’t quite have the cutting edge to get back into the game, which leaves Dean Smith with plenty of work to do.
Hopefully Villa can sort out some issues ahead of Friday’s home game with Everton, and stop pundits suggesting that they’re ‘doing a Fulham’ – bringing in too many players at once.
Villa signed 12 players over the summer. Loanees Tyrone Mings, Kortney Hause and El Ghazi himself signed permanently, whilst former Smith favourites Ezri Konsa and Jota reunited with their former boss.
There’s a real mix of languages though. Brazilian ace Wesley will predominantly speak Portuguese, but there will be hopes that he, Marvelous Nakamba and Bjorn Engels will be able to communicate given their history in Belgium.
Winger El Ghazi has now admitted that it’s been difficult with some of the new signings who can’t speak English yet, and whilst Trezeguet is being aided by fellow Egyptian Ahmed Elmohamady, El Ghazi knows it may take some time for the Villa players to gel on the pitch.
“It’s a little bit harder with the ones who don’t speak English,” said El Ghazi. “We get to know each other well because we train with each other a lot. We all help each other settle in. Elmo (Ahmed Elmohamady) has played a bigger part for Trezeguet but we help every player who comes into our team. We have to be collective at Aston Villa. We are one,” he adedd.
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