Aston Villa kick off their 2024/25 calendar with a trip to the London Stadium to face West Ham on the opening day of the Premier League.
Every player will be seeing the West Ham challenge as a chance to impress Unai Emery, who has seen great change happen over the summer in the build up to the new season.
From new signings to players returning from injury, the 2024/25 calendar has the potential to be a chance to impress for many at Aston Villa.
Last season was tough for several of Emery’s first team players, who missed out on Villa’s memorable fourth-place finishing campaign.
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Jacob Ramsey will be eyeing redemption at Aston Villa this season
The 2023/24 calendar became a nightmare before it really began for Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendia, who suffered ACL injuries in August 2023, ruling them out for the year.
Another player who had a trialling season was Jacob Ramsey, who suffered a broken foot last summer whilst on international duty, which became a hindrance throughout the campaign.
After excelling over the 2022/23 season under both Steven Gerrard and Emery, there was great hope for Ramsey last term, aspirations that he was unable to achieve due to injury.
The Englishman secured only eight starts from 16 appearances in the Premier League last season, a severe drop in playing time from the 35 league appearances he made the year prior.
As well as being available for the majority of the 2022/23 calendar, Ramsey emerged as a player of importance to Emery, something he can become once more as the 2024/25 season approaches.
Ramsey can make Unai Emery forget about Moussa Diaby
In 2022/23, Ramsey had a direct hand in 13 Premier League goals, scoring six and assisting seven playing predominantly on the left side of midfield for Emery.
Now, the Englishman’s importance to the Spaniard’s squad might have just turned up a notch, as there is a void to fill when it comes to contributing in the final third.
This summer, Villa prematurely parted ways with Moussa Diaby, who played a big part last season with 14 goal contributions in the Premier League.
If Ramsey can get back to the levels he reached in 2022/23 before his injury, the Bodymoor Heath graduate could prove that Monchi made the right call to offload Diaby for profit.
That season, the 23-year-old was Villa’s best-creator in terms of his rate of key passes per game (1.2) alongside Douglas Luiz and Alex Moreno, via WhoScored.
Having Ramsey back in form could not only fill the positional absence of Diaby in attack, but also the contribution that the Frenchman had in front of goal, with the Birmingham-born star more than capable of making things happen going forward.
Back in 2022, Gabby Agbonlahor described Ramsey as being on “a different level” after being promoted to the first team by Gerrard, with the best yet to come from the dazzling midfielder.
With Diaby’s goal contributions needing to be replaced, the 2024/25 season could be there for Ramsey to take hold of for Villa, being a player who can be Emery’s difference maker going forward.
