Since Unai Emery joined Aston Villa in November 2022, they have seen a significant improvement, with the Spaniard boasting an impressive 54.55% win rate, which is his third-highest win rate as a manager, behind his stints at PSG and Arsenal.
Last season, the Villans finished fourth in the league, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since the 1982/83 campaign.
Alongside this domestic success, Villa also made it to the semi-final of the UEFA Conference League last season, losing to Olympiacos 6-2 over two legs, who then went on to win the competition, beating Fiorentina 1-0 in the final.
The aim this term will be to build on these foundations being set, competing on multiple fronts, and sustaining the quality in the Premier League. To do this, teams require good depth, and one addition this summer that could offer that is Ross Barkley.
Ross Barkley's early years
Barkley first emerged onto the scene at Everton, making 28 appearances for their U21 side, scoring seven goals and providing three assists. He went on to make 179 senior appearances for the Toffees, scoring 27 goals, providing 25 assists, and totalling 12,788 minutes played.
His stellar form at such a young age for Everton, saw him earn a move to Chelsea, for a fee of around £15m back in 2018. The English midfielder then went on to make 100 appearances for the Blues where he scored 12 times and supplied 11 assists, spending four years at the London club.
But Barkley never quite made the required impact at Chelsea, being brandished “bang average” during one match by analys Raj Chohan in 2020.
This eventually saw the midfielder become a free agent, joining OGC Nice in France, before making his move to Luton Town in 2023 where his career has taken somewhat of a resurgence, in a different role.
Barkley's new role
Since coming back to England in 2023, Barkley has taken the natural progression, it seems, with attacking midfielders, blessed with technical quality, to drop deeper, have a bigger impact on the game, get more touches, and stamp their mark.
The former England international made 37 appearances for the Hatters last season, scoring five goals and producing six assists during his 2,998 minutes.
Goals
0.22
0.15
Assists
0.05
0.18
Progressive Carries
2.40
1.65
Progressive Passes
5.14
5.60
Shots Total
2.27
2.37
Touches
55.8
61.1
Touches (Mid 3rd)
24.8
34.8
Touches (Att 3rd)
24.9
14.8
Key Passes
2.29
1.51
Passes into Final Third
2.69
4.74
You can see from these metrics how Barkley’s role has changed over the years, now picking up more touches in deeper areas (34.8 in the middle third), which is ten more touches than he achieved in this zone during the 20/21 season. Whereas, his attacking third touches are down by ten, which shows the area he is now based in.
Barkley has always had brilliant passing ability, and a strong athletic frame, and Luton saw this as a perfect opportunity to play the Englishman deeper, allowing him to dictate play from deep, using that passing range, but also his press resistance, with the ability to shield the ball and retain possession when under pressure.
The above image shows Barkley’s heatmap from Luton vs Brighton last season (Sofascore). This change in position has seen a resurgence for the Everton academy graduate, earning his move to Aston Villa this summer.
Indeed, it’s that deep-lying element of his game that has seen Emery hail Barkley’s “similar” characteristics to the recently departed Douglas Luiz. The Spaniard needed someone to replace the Brazilian and combined with the likes of Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana, they have arguably done the job.
Aston Villa wanted to sign a future £126m star but landed Westwood instead
Paul Lambert missed out on a few players who went on to enjoy wonderful careers…
ByRoss Kilvington
