Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has explained what he wants more from Leon Bailey after the winger's return to the club last month
Leon Bailey of Aston Villa
Leon Bailey of Aston Villa(Image: Getty Images)
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Unai Emery has been impressed with the level Leon Bailey has shown since returning to Aston Villa but has challenged him to start producing numbers.
The winger was recalled from his loan at AS Roma last month after struggling with fitness, which limited his game time in the Italian capital.
Evann Guessand was subsequently allowed to move to Crystal Palace on loan, with an option to buy, despite Emery previously making it clear that the plan had been for Bailey to remain in Rome.
Ahead of Villa's match against Leeds on Saturday afternoon, Emery was asked why his stance on bringing Bailey back into the squad had changed.
“He loves football, and he loves it here,” Emery started. “The year he was here, and when we decided, with him as well, to leave from here, he was having other experiences he had before in Germany, and then he had experiences in Rome.
“He was missing something - something in the moment he had here with us, and it was not our idea to recover him to play with us here. But we decided because some circumstances helped us to take this decision, and now he is completely committed with us, with Aston Villa.
“He wanted to come back again and to be with us at Aston Villa, our training sessions, his teammates, the coaches, and the manager, and he decided himself to get again the challenge.
“The challenge himself with us to try to recover his best form, confidence, feeling comfortable with us, and now the challenge he has is still being for him and for us, to get his best, to help us with his qualities and his commitment, to focus like we want everything, and I am so, so happy how he's responding every day with us.”
Bailey has featured in Villa’s last four league matches and started in the FA Cup tie against Newcastle United, where he was taken off as a sacrificial substitute following Marco Bizot’s red card.
"I want to add his numbers to us, scoring goals, assists, playing tactically like we need,” Emery said when asked where Bailey can improve.
“I am now so, so happy how the players are committed in everything, working every day, every player. We must be together, because to keep our good form in Europe or in the Premier League is going to be very, very important for everybody, for the club, for how we can achieve our objective collectively and, of course, through individual objectives as well, and he's one of them.
"Leon Bailey, it is necessary in our structure to try to exploit his qualities, helping us to get more points and through numbers, scoring goals, assists, and working.
“But we need as well our squad strong, with the players playing more minutes or less, but always ready to play to help, even playing less than they should want.”
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