Kevin Phillips has revealed Aston Villa assistant manager Craig Shakespeare’s excitement about winger Leon Bailey.
The former Claret and Blue striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, insisted he was “excited” about watching the 24-year-old develop in the Premier League.
This reveal comes as Aston Villa boss Dean Smith confirmed in his pre-Wolves press conference that Bailey has not yet returned to full training and will miss tomorrow’s match against Wolves at Villa Park.
The former Brentford boss confirmed late last month that the winger would return from injury after the international break (September 23rd).
The winger has already missed four Premier League clashes with muscle problems.
Bailey has impressed in his limited cameos, scoring once and assisting once in 85 league minutes.
Phillips insisted he has been impressed with what he has seen from the highly-rated summer arrival and was hopeful that the winger can find some ‘consistency’ in a Villa shirt.
“We’ve seen snippets of what he can bring to that exciting Villa side,” he told Football Insider‘s Ewan Kingsbury.
“I’ve spoken to people who watch Villa a
lot and I had coffee with Craig Shakespeare last week, he said that Bailey is a
really exciting young talent.
“I think once he’s fully fit we will see
the consistency he can bring to the team – I’m not expecting him to perform
week, in week out because he’s still young.
“But I’ve only heard good reports about him, and I’m really excited about watching him develop with some more game time.”
Bailey joined Aston Villa from Bayer Leverkusen during the summer window for a reported £30million.
The rapid forward scored 39 goals in 156 games for the Bundesliga club.
He signed terms at Villa Park until 2025.
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By: Kevin Phillips
Title: Kevin Phillips: Shakespeare told me Aston Villa coaches blown away by one summer signing
Sourced From: www.footballinsider247.com/aston-villa-assistant-shakespeare-delivers-exciting-bailey-verdict-pre-wolves-to-phillips/
Published Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2021 11:00:00 +0000
