Leon Bailey’s undeniable stats suggest Dream Team bosses overlooking Aston Villa star

LEON BAILEY (£3.1m) has ascended to another level this season.

The Jamaica international’s first season at Aston Villa was blighted by injuries while his second campaign was an underwhelming one punctuated by inconsistent performances.

So far in 2023/24, however, fans of the Villains have finally seen the player who made waves in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen.

In fact, he’s statistically one of the Premier League’s most effective attacking talents this term.

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Using Dream Team definitions, Bailey is averaging a goal or assist every 78.6 minutes in the top flight!

This alone suggests he deserves to be more popular among gaffers as his current ownership of 2.6% means he features in fewer teams than Nicolas Jackson (£3.3m).

The 26-year-old has scored nine goals and provided 12 assists in all competitions this season.

Only four midfielders have registered more goal involvements at the time of writing: Bukayo Saka (£5.9m), Jarrod Bowen (£4.7m), Phil Foden (£5.7m) and Cole Palmer (£4.3m).

All members of that quartet are significantly more popular than Bailey – Palmer is the least-selected of the four and his ownership of 16.6% is enough to make him the seventh most-popular asset in his position.

The fact Bailey rarely completes 90 minutes may be the reason his ownership doesn’t reflect the quality of his output.

While that’s an understandable inclination, the only thing that should matter to gaffers is a player’s capacity to returns plentiful points.

And Bailey has done just that in his last two outings having taken Nottingham Forest and Luton for 19 points via one goal and two assists.

Dream Team bosses warming to the idea of transferring Bailey into their XI may be tempted to enact such a ploy prior to Gameweek 27.

Unai Emery’s side one of seven teams with two fixtures to fulfil this coming Gameweek and both games are due to played at Villa Park, where they have an excellent record.

Granted, Tottenham and Ajax are hardly the most favourable opponents but both sides have conceded their fair share of goals this season.

Dream Team gaffers will (correctly) been drawn to Ollie Watkins (£4.6m) first when targeting Villa’s attack but doubling up is a perfectly viable strategy.

The England striker has developed a strong understanding with Bailey in recent months.

Looking forward, Villa have a fixture in Gameweek 28, unlike Arsenal and Brighton.

In fact, Villa, Liverpool, West Ham and Luton are the only clubs with three fixtures across Gameweeks 27 and 28.

All things considered, Bailey appears to be a smart option up until the international break.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk