Breaking:Top Aston Villa star is most likely only a few days away from leaving after last night’s snub

Top Aston Villa star is most likely only a few days away from leaving after last night’s snub

The Villans were sadly held to a 1-1 draw by the Blades at Villa Park on Friday, December 22, which meant they missed

the opportunity to take the lead in the Barclays Premier League standings.

After being traded by Villa to the Blades in the summer, Cameron Archer

surprised everyone by scoring the first goal of the match from close range in the 88th minute. However, Chris Wilder’s

team was unable to hold on as Nicolo Zaniolo’s equalizer seven minutes into extra time.

The outcome puts Aston Villa in a tie with Arsenal atop the Premier League standings, but they also lost the

opportunity to go two points ahead and ended their 15-game winning streak at Villa Park.

Emery will undoubtedly be disappointed with his team’s overall performance, but the seldom-seen Dendoncker will be

incensed at the Spaniard for benching him following remarks he made earlier in the week.

After the 2-1 victory over Brentford, Emery made the following statement,

which Birmingham Live [18 December] cited: “It’s important for players to train every day like Dendoncker when some

injuries are coming and players are suspended.” Now is the time for other participants

Although Boubacar Kamara was suspended following his red card last

weekend, the Spaniard may have alluded to the Belgian starting the game against the Blades. However, Dendoncker was

conspicuously absent, with John McGinn partnering Douglas Luiz—a disastrous choice.

With McGinn still playing the left wing position that had worked well for him all season, Dendoncker might have been the

best choice for the job. The Belgian’s most recent start against Zrinjski gave Villa confidence in his ability to perform.

Using Dendoncker’s numbers from the previous season, when his pass-success

percentage was 88.2, which is comparable to players like Boubacar

Kamara (89.8) and Douglas Luiz (88.5) this time around, might be a more equitable approach.

In fact, Dendoncker was very efficient with the ball last season, finishing 93 percent of his short passes [FBref] (no

Villa midfielder had a better percentage) and 91.7% of his passes over the “medium” range.

He won two of his three aerial duels at 66% and completed 92% of his 77 passes in the 1-1 draw with Zrinjski Mostar last week

All of this is not to suggest that Dendoncker will suddenly emerge as one

of Emery’s most important players in this improbable Premier League title fight, but he could have been used last night.

However, another cruel rejection by his manager suggests that his time at Villa

Park will likely end in January. Journalist David Ornstein of The Athletic revealed on December 21 that the club is eager to

let him go once more after his summer transfer attempt to move abroad fell through (Le Parisien, 1 September).

January is quickly approaching, so Dendoncker is undoubtedly getting ready to leave for good.

KVIBEZSPORT