If Aston Villa fans were paying attention to any of the international games during this past week, then something interesting would have cropped up.
Morgan Rogers netted a brace for the England U21s, including scoring a penalty against Austria in a friendly encounter.
That got a lot of Aston Villa fans talking about whether he could be their penalty-taker this season following Douglas Luiz’s transfer to Juventus.
What’s ironic is that Villa’s first penalty of the 2023/24 Premier League season was against Everton in their first home game.
At that time, everyone knew there was going to be a new taker, it was just a case of who, with Luiz stepping up and dispatching his spot-kick passed Jordan Pickford.
Villa play Everton on Saturday and it would be ironic if the same happens again, but here we will take a look at the five possible candidates for Villa’s next penalty taker:
Who will be Aston Villa’s main penalty-taker?
John McGinn – Could it be the captain himself? It seems as though last season, it was between Luiz and his skipper, with the former winning that race.
So, bearing that in mind, will Emery just pass over that responsibility to McGinn instead? Given that he is the skipper and will start every game when fit, then it makes sense.
Youri Tielemans – From a technical standpoint, he is probably the best at Villa and was only bettered in that department last season by Luiz.
Tielemans has taken spot-kicks before, so this won’t be new to him and given that he only signed for the club last summer, then he wasn’t able to be in this conversation 12 months ago, but now that he is a regular starter, some would say give him the keys.
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Morgan Rogers – Another player who is now a regular starter. And that penalty for the U21s was brilliantly dispatched.
The 22-year-old certainly has the confidence and technique to take this responsibility, but it might be the case of Rogers being down the pecking order because he is the young guy of the pack.
Ollie Watkins – Do Villa go back? Watkins has taken penalties before and delivered mixed results. The reason why Luiz took penalties was because the club’s senior striker was missing far too many.
But it needs to be noted that the last time the England international took a penalty was during Villa’s penalty shootout win over Lille in the Conference League and he dispatched it with ease.
Leon Bailey – Funnily enough, he missed his spot-kick during that win over Lille, but he was a set-piece taker at Bayer Leverkusen.
Another player who is a regular starter, Bailey certainly has the calmness and confidence to take penalties. It would be a surprise choice if picked, but you would presume others are ahead of him.
Emiliano Martinez, the penalty king
Whilst many debate as to who will be the club’s next penalty taker, the man between the sticks is the king of saving them.
Martinez signing a new contract was music to the fans’ ears because of his importance to the team and how valuable he has been in guiding Villa into the Champions League.
If Emery had any doubts about his penalty taker, then he has the best goalkeeper in the world to sort it out because not many get past the Argentine star.
