Despite it being an embarrassing week for Aston Villa Football Club, with relegation confirmed, board members’ resignations and a senior player being suspended, there is at least one thing that I think we can all agree on that is positive for this football club. The signing of Jordan Amavi from Ligue 1 side Nice at the start of the season proved to have been £9 million well spent. Now that we are down, will the young Frenchman want to continue his career at Aston Villa?
Villa fans can point fingers for the awful recruitment drive that meant we have all had to witness weekly humiliations on the pitch. Even so, some credit has to be given to the man who discovered the talent that is Amavi and convinced him to join Aston Villa in a five-year deal. Rated as one of Europe’s top young players, Amavi made steady progress at the start of the season and seemed to have put an end to the left back problems that we had faced for so many years.
Along came the international break in November and Amavi was in action for the Under-21s for France. After injuring his knee, our nightmares about relegation increased as he was ruled out for the remainder of the season. I can’t help but wonder what he could have done for this club. When Garde took over, he would have linked well with his fellow Frenchmen or could even have kept Sherwood in the job. Anything could have happened but I belief that Jordan Amavi had the potential to be Aston Villa’s unsung hero if only he had remained fit for the whole season.
It was unfortunate that we lost Amavi so early in a tough season, when there should have been added incentive to stay up because of the huge increase in television revenue that each Premier League club will benefit from next season.
With Aston Villa, however, what’s done is done and it’s more about looking forward than looking back now. We need to try to keep hold of this great talent that we have. The fact of the matter is that Amavi would probably be one of the best left backs in the Championship next season, if not the best, and he has a big decision to make as he returns from his knee injury. Will he want to stay at Aston Villa, where every fan loves him, or does he have greater ambitions? Will we see him in Villa Park again or will he join a club in one of Europe’s top leagues? I can’t help but think that if he stays on at Villa he might not reach his potential, which he could do more easily elsewhere. Looking at his Twitter account, he has a good relationship with the Villa fans and it would be a real shame if he were to leave us this summer when this club needs unity.
Seeing what this club is becoming is sickening. I just hope, for the sake of the fans, the chairman and all the legends involved with this club, that something happens that will lift everyone’s spirits. Keeping Jordan Amavi would certainly do that.
I think as we saw with Benteke and his ruptured achillies, clubs aren’t going to be willing to take a gamble on a player just returning from an ACL injury either. He’s on a long contract, and we paid a decent amount of money for him which i can’t see anyone getting close to given his injury. I expect him to be at Villa next season, at least until January