da premier bet： After The Daily Star reported earlier this week that Thierry Henry has reached a verbal agreement to become Aston Villa’s new manager, we’re still waiting on confirmation of not only the French World Cup winner’s fate but also Steve Bruce’s. The current Villa boss is due to have talks with new investors Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens on Wednesday.
da bwin： Either way, hiring Henry undoubtedly represents a risky move. While his quality as a player remains unequivocal and while the Arsenal legend helped Roberto Martinez guide Belgium to their best ever World Cup placing in Russia this summer, Henry would be taking up his first ever full-time managerial role should he get the gig at Villa Park.
So, what could be the most significant repercussions? Football FanCast take a look at the potential consequences – some good, some bad – of Henry replacing Bruce in the coming days.
Impressive defensive record evaporates
Bruce built Villa’s playoff push last season on an incredibly solid defensive structure, conceding the third-fewest goals of any side in the Championship, and while it remains to be seen just where Henry sits on the philosophical spectrum, it seems unlikely he has the nous or even the motivation to maintain that part of the Midlands outfit’s game.
And the real concern, especially considering how little of the transfer window is left, is where that really leaves this Villa team – caught between Bruce’s personnel and Henry’s tactics. We’ve seen it countless times before from teams across a variety of leagues; simply asking the same group of players to employ more expansive football overnight never really works. They concede more goals without really scoring enough to compensate for the new deficit.
Kodjia musters up promotion-pushing goal tally
That being said, if Henry does have one chance of bucking that trend and turning Villa into a free-scoring machine, it surely rests on the shoulders of Jonathan Kodjia. The Ivory Coast international was sensational during his first season at Villa Park, netting 19 times in the Championship, but could only manage nine league starts last term due to injury problems.
Henry will certainly know a thing or two about getting strikers firing and if he can further improve a few aspects of Kodjia’s game, there’s no reason he can’t produce the kind of haul that drives Villa’s promotion push. Based on last season’s returns throughout the division, an excess of 20 goals should be enough to have Villa competing at the right end of the table.
Arsenal connection established
Perhaps the biggest benefit of having Henry in the dugout is quite simply his connection with Arsenal, who should be a fantastic source of talent for the Villans. Nobody wants Villa to become effectively the Premier League side’s feeder club, but at the same time it would be needlessly proud to ignore the quality of the north Londoners’ youth ranks. Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Krystian Bielik have both been left out of the Arsenal squad travelling to Singapore, the suggestion being that they’re available for loan already, and both would be useful additions.
During a summer in which Arsenal have welcomed a new manager too, it could be the perfect time to land some already established talent on the cheap as well. Joel Campbell and former Birmingham loanee Carl Jenkinson are both in need of new homes, while it remains to be seen whether the likes of Rob Holding and Alex Iwobi really feature in Unai Emery’s plans this season.
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