Aston Villa sold Nathan Baker to Bristol City in the summer – which now could be seen as an error.
With John Terry ruled out for the immediate future with a broken metatarsal, Aston Villa’s decision to sell Nathan Baker to Bristol City in the summer suddenly looks like something of a mistake.
The Villa academy graduate has been in fine form for the Robins and forged an impressive partnership with Aden Flint. In fact, his Robins side are now ahead of Villa in the Championship table in fourth – and have conceded exactly the same amount of goals.
It’s fair to say Villa’s possible loss can definitely be seen as Bristol City’s gain.
“Bakes is not a big talker in the game but he’s getting better at it and getting better at his communication. He’s just the ‘silent assassin’ – he does a job and he does it really well,” explained City’s assistant coach Jamie McAllister to the Bristol Post.
“Whether it’s a tackle or a header he just sees the ball and goes and takes the lot. Him and Flinty have struck up a really good partnership together.
“He’s quick, he’s good on the ball, he’s got all the attributes to be a top centre-half and he is a top centre-half. He’s been a great signing for us.”
One of the signings of the season perhaps. And while Villa should be more than content with a partnership of John Terry and James Chester, the former is 36 these days and cannot last forever.
And with Chris Samba ageing and Tommy Elphick badly out of favour, keeping Baker around might have been a good decision.
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