Leon Bailey
Leon Bailey’s future with ambitious Aston Villa is up in the air with head coach Unai Emery seemingly keen to replace the Reggae Boy with one of his former team-mates.
He has produced inconsistent displays for the English Premier League (EPL) outfit since signing a four-year deal in August 2021. And his recent hit ‘n’ miss international performances during the CONCACAF Gold Cup did the 25-year-old no favours.
Emery has made a massive impact with the Villains, since replacing head coach Steven Gerrard last October, by steering them to seventh place in the EPL to earn a UEFA Europa Conference League play-off spot.
The wily Spaniard will be desperate to strengthen his squad, with Bayer Leverkusen and France star winger Moussa Diaby firmly on Emery’s radar.
The winger, who played under Emery at Paris Saint-Germain, is due to shortly kick-off pre-season training with the German Bundesliga side. If there’s going to be a deal it will be soon, and Bailey will be pondering his future.
It’s understood that a £42m offer has been tabled by Villa, which if accepted puts Bailey down the pecking order at the EPL club and effectively on the sidelines.
Bailey had previously been a wanted man by the likes of elite EPL clubs such as Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United before he penned his £5.2million base salary contract with Villa.
However, only producing flashes of brilliance rather than on a persistent basis means that top teams aren’t likely to be interested as Bailey can’t consistently deliver the goods.
His performance during Jamaica’s timid 3-0 Gold Cup semi-final defeat to eventual champions Mexico, highlighted his inexplicable inconsistency for both club and country.
Bailey was largely ineffective against Mexico. He lost possession 17 times, won seven of the 14 tackles, was accurate with just two of his five crosses and produced only a single shot — which was off target.
Should he stay in the EPL then at least Everton and Wolves could step in, because they were reportedly clamouring for Bailey’s signature before he joined Villa.
He’s only made 35 appearances for Villa, having been out of favour under Gerrard as well as a string of injuries, bagging just five goals. So his value will not be particularly high despite his age, should Emery decide to shelve the Kingston-born winger.
Emery has demanded reliability from his squads wherever he has worked, and because Bailey seems incapable of this then Diaby could fill his boots.
Diaby was on target in Europe last season, notching two goals during the Champions League group stages and adding a further three in the Europa League knockout rounds.
Bailey, who is expected to shine in attack but rarely does, only managed one goal during Jamaica’s Gold Cup campaign. Following his extended international break, Bailey has been given extra holiday time by Emery before his pre-season return.
Whether Bailey will return to Villa lies very much in the balance, with a summer move potentially on the cards for the former Phoenix All Stars Academy product.
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
