Earlier today, QPR announced the appointment of Michael Beale on a three-year contract, meaning Steven Gerrard is now without a No.2 at Aston Villa.
What’s the story?
Well, the 41-year-old has decided to step away from life as an assistant to take the reins at Loftus Road, after helping Gerrard at Rangers, and also at Villa Park.
In our view, the Villans could now struggle without Beale at Bodymoor Heath on a day-to-day basis.
Why do we think that? Well, it was Emiliano Martinez who provoked that thought, after the Argentina international sat down with Ben Foster to talk about life at Aston Villa.
Speaking on Amazon Prime, the 29-year-old admitted that Beale “does all the talking” at Aston Villa, and the players do not even view him as an assistant, but more of a co-manager.
Martinez said: “It’s the first time in 14 to 15 years of my career that the assistant coach does all the talking, Michael Beale. He knows so much about football, it’s just incredible. He does all the training sessions, he takes all the important meetings, obviously Stevie G talks too.
“In every club, the manager does all the talking and the assistant helps. With Michael, we felt him and Stevie G are both the managers.”
Now, that should slightly concern Aston Villa supporters, in our view.
Quite often, a manager is only as good as the team around him, so it will be very interesting to see how the Villans perform next season without Beale helping Gerrard.
Who could replace Michael Beale at Aston Villa?
In our view, it is imperative that Gerrard finds an adequate replacement for Beale – in truth, it could end up being the most important business he does this summer.
There haven’t really been any concrete links as of yet, although Xabi Alonso is a name on the lips of Aston Villa fans, after he announced he would be leaving Real Sociedad’s B team.
Interestingly, Gerrard once wrote the following in his 2015 autobiography.
“If, totally hypothetically, I was going to become Liverpool manager one day I know who I’d love to have as my assistant: Xabi Alonso or Jamie Carragher.”
On that note, we certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see the Spaniard replace Beale at Villa Park.
Whatever happens, Gerrard will miss Beale, although Aston Villa’s loss is most certainly QPR’s gain.
If you’re interested, here’s how Beale’s starting XI at QPR could look next season
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