Unai Emery's snub in Aston Villa vs. Manchester City has put Nicolo

Unai Emery’s snub in Aston Villa vs. Manchester City has put Nicolo Zaniolo out of the picture for good.

After his performance in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth, the Italian international was left

off the starting lineup and had to watch the entire match from the bench (3 December).

With the 24-year-old replaced by defensive midfielder Boubacar Kamara and Leon

Bailey taking on a more offensive role behind forward Ollie Watkins, it was plain that

Villa outperformed the Citizens in the 1-0 triumph.

Zaniolo’s life hasn’t exactly taken off.

The attacking midfielder, who has five goals in his 12 games for the Turkish side,

is well-known for his inventiveness and keen sense of goal in the closing third.

But that hasn’t proven to be the case so far with the Villans for him, though, after failing to

score a single goal or record an assist in his 16 appearances.

Given that Emery had previously substituted Zaniolo for the injured player at halftime

in the match with Bournemouth multiple times this season, it is hardly surprising that

he did not think highly of the player against Man City.

The return of Jacob Ramsey, who may have passed him after coming off the bench against the Citizens at Villa Park,

took his spot.

Bailey and the Italian were previously vying for a starting berth, but with his recent performances,

Bailey also seems to have taken the Italian by surprise.

In addition to his goal against Bournemouth, the Jamaican international scored the game-winning goal on Wednesday,

bringing his total of 21 games this season to eight goals and six assists.

Zaniolo is just unable to compete with those numbers. Despite missing two significant opportunities,

he has averaging 1.8 shots per game, only 0.4 of which are on target for a 0% conversation rate.

With an average of only 25.6 touches and a dismal pass completion percentage of 72%,

the attacker hasn’t given his teammates many significant opportunities.

In addition, despite winning 32% of his duels and recording only 0.1 interceptions, 0.6 tackles,

0.6 clearances, and 9.9 possession losses per game, he hasn’t been much of a defensive asset.

Those numbers are just insufficient to get into a Villa team that is blazing through the Premier League,

moving up to third place in the standings after their most recent victory.

Even though Zaniolo is still young in the hardest league to play in, he will need to step

it up when his next opportunity arises because there is fierce competition for spots and he cannot afford to fall behind.