After a memorable night in Belgium, Aston Villa are on the cusp of the Champions League quarter-finals.
On Tuesday night, the Villans beat Club Brugge 3-1 at Jan Breydelstadion in the first leg of their round of 16 tie; Leon Bailey broke the deadlock, before a late own goal from Brandon Mechele, followed by a Marco Asensio spot-kick, secured victory.
Unai Emery’s team are now likely to face Liverpool, following the Reds’ win in Paris, in the quarter-finals, taking confidence from their recent 2-2 draw with the Premier League champions-elect.
So, the Claret and Blue Army certainly have a strong side to get behind, but would Villa be even more impressive had they been able to hold onto one of their most highly-rated young prospects, once described as the next Jack Grealish?
Jack Grealish's post-Villa career in numbers
Given that Jack Grealish joined Manchester City for £100m in August 2021, a then British transfer record, he made the move with sky-high expectations.
Well, his time at the Etihad has been ultra-successful, winning three successive Premier League titles, the Champions League, an FA Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup.
However, the fact the 29-year-old has scored just 16 goals in 151 appearances for the Citizens has led to Sam Lee of the Athletic describing his performances as ‘underwhelming’, adding that both this season and last have been ‘hampered by injuries’.
Grealish himself has admitted this has been the “most difficult year of my life”, struggling for form and fitness, leading to him being left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for last summer’s European Championships.
As noted by Oliver Kay in the Athletic, Grealish went over 12 months without a club goal, describing his form across the last two seasons as ‘beyond disappointing’, while Richard Jolly of the Independent believes he is ‘wasting his talent’, having gone from being ‘one of the most exciting attacking players’ in the world to ‘someone who is neither exciting nor attacking’.
However, have Villa since had an even more exciting young talent on their hands, one that, like Grealish, is finding out that the grass isn’t always greener away from Villa Park?
Grealish 2.0 finding form away from Aston Villa
Carney Chukwuemeka joined Aston Villa’s academy as a 13-year-old, going on to make 16 appearances for the first team, before being sold to Chelsea for a ginormous £20m fee in August 2022.
Prior to his departure, Alex Dicken of Birmingham Live labelled him the ‘next Jack Grealish’, while Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout believed him to be Villa’s “next big thing”.
Well, despite making 32 appearances for the Blues, these have totalled just 746 minutes, his time in West London blighted by a knee injury.
He scored his only Premier League goal for the club at West Ham soon after arriving, a day soured by the fact the Blues were beaten 3-1, and the fact Chukwuemeka suffered an injury at the London Stadium that required surgery.
So, having featured only five times this season, all in the EFL Cup or Conference League, the 21-year-old joined Borussia Dortmund on loan for the remainder of the season in February, hoping to become the latest Englishman to star at Westfalenstadion.
Jadon Sancho
£8m
158
£73m
Jude Bellingham
£25m
132
£88m
Jamie Gittens
€90,000
95
Current player
Carney Chukwuemeka
Loan
3
Current player
Speaking on the Totally Football Show, German football expert Seb Stafford-Bloor described Chukwuemeka’s Bundesliga debut for die Schwarzgelben as ‘absolutely sensational’, adding that his 15-minute cameo during the 6-0 demolition of Union Berlin is as good as you’re ever likely to see in such a short period of time.
Thus, as reported by Yannick Hüber, Jonas Ortmann and Jörg Weiler of Bild, Dortmund intend to make Chukwuemeka’s move permanent for €30m in the summer, albeit their option to buy clause is only active if they qualify for the Champions League or Europa League, currently on course for neither, languishing in tenth.
Of course, the 21-year-old has only made three appearances in the famous yellow and black so far, sitting out Tuesday’s Champions League draw with Lille due to, as manager Niko Kovač put it, a “small incident” suffered against St. Pauli on Saturday.
Nevertheless, Chukwuemeka is unquestionably a high-quality player, described by Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl as “extremely talented”, so will Villa live to regret allowing him to depart?
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