Aston Villa may just be able to challenge for Europe without Grealish
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Jack Grealish left Aston Villa this summer transfer window and leaves behind an abundance of goal involvements, the captain’s armband, and his boyhood club in a bit of trouble.
Fast forward three weeks and Leon Bailey, Emi Buendia and Danny Ings have all been bled in smoothly with the latter scoring in both league games and has thus far lived up to expectation as Villa’s main man for this season. Ings slotted home a penalty against Watford and belted in a bicycle kick against Newcastle United.
Now, with Dean Smith still proving his worth and Tyrone Mings as captain, are Aston Villa now better off without Grealish? As of now, the Villains have three points from two games, but four goals from these fixtures.
No doubt Grealish is going to be severely missed at some point over the next few months. The fixtures will begin to mount up and overall, the unrivalled brilliance he has shown at Villa Park down the years is not going to be filled by three players.
Smith’s side will, instead, need Ings to be firing in goals close to the 20-goal mark in the league and need Bailey and Buendia to help him get there, just like Grealish used to feed Ollie Watkins.
Such numbers are seemingly never too far away for Ings, who has been Southampton's top scorer for the past two seasons. Last time out, the Englishman netted 12 league goals in an injury-ridden season, but in 2019/20, Ings played every single Premier League game, netting 22 times.
Bunedia, on the other hand, racked up a sensational 15 goals and 17 assists in the Championship for Norwich City as they won the title in the second tier. The Argentine was desired by much of the Premier League, but he is no doubt a solid replacement for Grealish, given the numbers he turns in.
Bailey also managed an admirable nine goals and nine assists in 30 Bundesliga games last time out for Bayer Leverkusen, and such numbers for a team competing in the Europa League is only going to benefit Villa’s chance of getting a bit closer to it themselves.
No doubt Grealish is going to be missed. However, swapping one player for three across the forward line is almost better business for the Villains, who are now in their third consecutive Premier League season.
Should Ings keep firing, then they’re in with a chance. Should Bunedia and Bailey continue their creative output, Villa can get closer to the Europa League. Either way, they look like a better team in 2021/22.
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