Aston Villa have a player with ‘immense potential’ in Lamare Bogarde as the Premier League starlet shines on loan at Bristol Rovers, Memorial Stadium coach Joey Barton tells Bristol Live.
For a 19-year-old playing senior football for the very first time, Bogarde has adapted to life in much choppier waters much more quickly that some may have expected.
Bogarde’s arrival has coincided with an impressive upturn in form for previously relegation-threatened Bristol Rovers; The Gas stepping their foot onto the proverbial with three clean sheets in their last four games.
Bogarde has started every one of those fixtures. His poise and maturity making a key impact as Barton’s side put a ten-point gap between themselves and the League One drop zone.
Aston Villa’s Lamare Bogarde thriving under Joey Barton
“He’s quality, isn’t he?,” the former Man City, Newcastle and Rangers midfielder said after Saturday’s 0-0 draw with promotion-chasing Barnsley.
“You can see his composure. He is young in terms of years on the clock. But he is very mature and he passes the ball correctly.
“The one thing that is labelled at technical, certainly foreign players is they don’t dig in and have a bite. For me, if you watch Lamare he does a bit of everything. He is another young player, but another with enormous potential.”
Bogarde, a 19-year-old Dutch youth international who joined Aston Villa from Feyenoord back in 2020, has spent much of his formative years at centre-half. He has thrived in a midfield role at Bristol Rovers, however; showcasing the sort of tactical versatility that will undoubtedly boost his hopes of a first-team role under Unai Emery at Villa Park.
“Immense potential,” Aston Villa’s academy manager Mark Harrison once told the Birmingham Mail of the Rotterdam-born teenager.
“And the commitment that will go into fulfilling that starts now.”
Bogarde played a key role in Aston Villa’s FA Youth Cup triumph back in 2021; part of a side which also contained Louis Barry, Middlesbrough loanee Aaron Ramsey and now-£20 million Chelsea starlet Carney Chukwuemeka.
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