Craig Butler has been speaking about Leon Bailey and his situation at Aston Villa, after a quiet period under Steven Gerrard.
The £100,000-a-week man has struggled with a thigh problem since Gerrard replaced Dean Smith, which has affected his chances of game time.
Now, Butler – Bailey’s step dad and agent – has commented.
What’s the story?
Well, the Jamaica international doesn’t enjoy being left on the bench.
After Gerrard left Bailey on the sideline in recent wins over Brighton and Leeds, the Express and Star quote Butler as saying: “He doesn’t like the bench, never will like the bench because he’s the type of guy that always wants to play. He’s been on the bench a couple of times and it really got him riled.”
Clearly, the 24-year-old doesn’t like being left out.
When he has made it out onto the pitch, Bailey has only scored once in 13 Premier League appearances this season, while also providing two assists.
In fairness, the Premier League is a very difficult division, and it takes a while for foreign imports to acclimatise.
Leon Bailey set to explode at Aston Villa
When the Jamaican is finally settled, and can maintain his fitness without picking up injuries, we’re confident he’ll take the Premier League by storm.
After all, the Villans didn’t spend £25m on him for no reason.
Bailey was one of most exciting forwards in the Bundesliga, scoring 39 goals in 156 games for Bayer Leverkusen before leaving to join Aston Villa.
In our view, it seems people have forgotten what he’s capable of, given the amount of time he’s spent on the sidelines.
Aged just 24, he has time on his side to turn things around in the Midlands, and we can’t wait to see how he performs when he’s at 100%.
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