Nakamba Proved His Worth To Villa In Win Against Newcastle
There’s a lot of talk about potential arrivals at Aston Villa in the current transfer window to strengthen the depth of the squad with rumors suggesting the exit of Marvelous Nakamba
The 27-year old, who has been assigned to a peripheral role this season, featuring in only two premier league matches so far, has been linked with a move away from Bodymoor, with clubs like Turkey’s Galatasaray and Fenerbahce reported to be interested in the Warriors midfielder.
His exit seemed imminent with Aston Villa’s close signing of Marseille midfield Morgan Sanson, but his performance in Saturday’s 2-0 win at home to Newcastle United in the English premier league showed exactly why Dean Smith wants to keep him around.
The Villa boss’s decesion to go for Nakamba instead of highly rated 19-year-old Jacob Ramsey in replacing the suspended John McGinn in the midfield, paid off handsomely as Nakamba controlled the base of the midfield allowing Douglas Luiz freedom to maneuver forward.
Nakamba who last started at home to Burnley some five months ago, pulled the strings in the middle of the park and dictated tempo of the game with much ease and discipline helping Villa to stay on the front foot throughout the match.
The Zimbabwean hardly put a foot wrong, completing a 98,5% pass accuracy rate after making 64 out 65 pass completion in the whole 90 minutes and had eight ball recoveries more than any other player on the field.
Although he is not one of the best ball-carrying midfiders at the club, but his discipline in positioning, accuracy and work rate are what set him apart from the rest.
To come up with a brilliant performance like that considering his limited game time, clearly shows that Nakamba still have something to offer Aston Villa. He is one of the best ‘low lying’ defensive midfielders in the league who can only gets better with time.
His performance in Saturday’s win proved the depth of Aston Villa squad this season and might have added pressure on coach Dean Smith to give the former Club Brugge central midfielder more game time.
