Aston Villa have struck gold with a signing they made in 2021 as he’s now worth more than Manchester City’s Jack Grealish.
Celebrations are beginning to die down from Aston Villa’s incredible 2023/24 campaign in which they reached a European semi-final and qualified for the Champions League.
Unai Emery’s first full season in charge brought immense progression and the Spaniard worked his magic on several players, including Ollie Watkins.
The Englishman recorded the most assists of any player across Europe’s top five leagues and fired an eye-watering 27 goals in all competitions.
Watkins spearheaded Villa’s charge into the top four while showcasing outrageous improvement under Emery, and he wasn’t the only one.
Leon Bailey has come of age under Unai Emery
Leon Bailey was a player bereft of confidence when Emery arrived at Villa Park.
The jet-heeled Jamaican was captured for £25 million from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2021 and looked a shadow of his former self under Steven Gerrard.
Bailey produced just eight goal contributions in 33 appearances before the Spaniard’s arrival as his confidence plummeted to an all-time low.
The talented winger needed a world-class manager to realise his potential and that is exactly what Emery has done, with the 26-year-old scoring 12 and providing 13 assists in all competitions in 2023/24.
It was the best campaign of his career in terms of metrics, adding to those goal and assist numbers by ranking in the top 1% of wingers across Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries, successful take-ons and progressive passes received.
Understandably, he’s been described as “exciting” by talent scout Antonio Mango for such blistering form and his value has skyrocketed in the last 12 months.
Leon Bailey is now worth more than Jack Grealish
Aston Villa sold Jack Grealish to Manchester City in the summer of 2021 for £100 million.
Despite just winning his third Premier League title in a row, the 28-year-old had a season to forget from a personal point of view, scoring three and assisting twice in 31 appearances.
Pep Guardiola preferred to use the electric pace and unpredictability of Jeremy Doku across most games instead of the Englishman and as a result, has seen his value plummet.
According to the CIES Football Observatory, Grealish is currently worth €40 million (£34 million), which is an alarming drop off from what City paid for him.
And whilst that perhaps isn’t an accurate fee they’d get for selling him in real life, Bailey’s form across the last 12 months has seen him exceed that value.
Bailey is now valued at €50 million (£42 million) and as Villa embark on their Champions League campaign in 2024/25, expect that number to increase even higher.
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