Aston Villa lost 5-0 to Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon to conclude the 2023/24 season, seeing one of Unai Emery’s stars fail to perform ahead of the summer transfer window.
Unai Emery’s side were still in party mode at Selhurst Park on the final day of the 2023/24 calendar, as Aston Villa lost 5-0 to Crystal Palace in the last game of the Premier League season.
Oliver Glasner’s attack blew the visitors away from as early as the ninth minute, as Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eberechi Eze punished the Villans.
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Fortunately, after securing Champions League football on Tuesday evening, Villa’s defeat was not detrimental to their season, with the away end serenading their players throughout the contest.
For all of the highs that Villa have experienced this week and over the year, there will be some alarm bells ringing over the performances of several players at Selhurst Park on the closing day, with Clement Lenglet being one of the worst.
Clement Lenglet was not good enough during Crystal Palace defeat
Handed a 4/10 match rating from journalist John Townley as part of BirminghamLive’s player ratings, Lenglet failed to impress Emery on the final outing of his loan spell at Villa.
The centre-back looked frail in central defence alongside Diego Carlos, failing to deal with the threat of Mateta on numerous occasions, as the Frenchman was handed perfect scoring scenarios as a result of lackadaisical defending.
During the game, journalist Jacob Tanswell described the duo as looking ‘peculiar’ and having a timid edge to them, as Palace’s front line pounced on every sense of complacency exposed by the visitors.
For the Eagles’ opener in particular, it seemed as though the Frenchman had started his holidays early, as Mateta edged past him to slide the ball beyond Robin Olsen.
Clement Lenglet could have played his last game for Aston Villa
It’s clear that Barcelona want to axe Lenglet, having sent the defender on loan for the previous two seasons, giving Villa something to think about when it comes to whether to sign the 28-year-old permanently.
It’s been a testing campaign for the former Spurs loanee, who almost left Villa in January to return to Barcelona due to lack of game time before impressing Emery with a chain of encouraging displays.
With wage demands of £150k-a-week, making him Villa’s highest earner, there will be lots of discussions to have in the summer transfer window when talk of Lenglet remaining in Birmingham arises.
One thing for sure is that the centre-back failed to show why the Midlands club should make a move to sign him on a permanent basis, making his future an interesting narrative to follow going into the circus that is the summer transfer window.
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