Unai Emery saw his side successfully navigate a potentially tricky away fixture at newly promoted Leicester City as Aston Villa ran out 2-1 winners at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Goals from Amadou Onana and Jhon Duran saw Aston Villa 2-1 winners against Leicester, with a Facundo Buonanotte goal halving the deficit on 73 minutes ultimately not enough for the Foxes.
Unai Emery can enter the first international break of the season relatively happy with Villa‘s start to the season as they boast six points from a possible nine with the knowledge that they went toe-to-toe with Arsenal despite falling to a 2-0 defeat.
Matty Cash went off injured in the 15th-minute against the Gunners and was replaced by 18-year-old right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic who was then expected to come in for his full debut against Leicester, particularly with Diego Carlos ruled out through injury.
However, that is not what happened as Emery sprung a real surprise with his solution to the absence of Cash and Carlos.
Unai Emery handed Lamare Bogarde surprise start against Leicester City
Had Carlos been available, Emery would have had the option of bringing the centre-back into the side and shifting Ezri Konsa to right-back.
Carlos’ injury took that option off the table, though, meaning it was widely assumed the only real option was to hand Nedeljkovic his first competitive start for the club.
- READ MORE: John Townley issues ‘incredible’ Kosta Nedeljkovic verdict after Aston Villa beat Athletic Bilbao
Therefore it was quite a surprise when the Villa line-up was announced and 20-year-old Dutch defender Lamare Bogarde was instead in the side.
Bogarde is highly-rated at Villa Park and was handed a new contract earlier this year but, normally a centre-back, it was a surprise to see him deployed at right-back against Leicester.
It proved an inspired decision, as Bogarde impressed on his Premier League debut and even earned a place in Troy Deeney’s Team of the Week.
- READ MORE: Troy Deeney delivers ‘massive’ Amadou Onana verdict after Aston Villa win vs Leicester City
Bogarde chance gives Aston Villa youth players important message
It has been a difficult summer for the Villa academy.
Due to the same PSR woes that saw Douglas Luiz sold to Juventus, Villa youth duo Tim Iroegbunam and Omari Kellyman were sold to Everton and Chelsea respectively.
This is because youth players represent pure profit in accounting terms when it comes to submitting the club’s finances to the Premier League so it makes the most sense to sell players from the academy.
This also saw Jaden Philogene sold to Hull City last year before being re-signed this summer and Cameron Archer sold to Southampton a fortnight ago.
These transfers will have been disheartening for the players within the Villa youth set-up as the signs were there that Villa were not going to provide a pathway to the first-team.
Therefore, Emery handing Bogarde a surprise start in a Premier League game is an important message in terms of rebuilding the trust that young players at Bodymoor Heath can rise through the ranks all the way to the senior side.
Bogarde’s display should now give the talented academy youngsters that extra little incentive to impress as they know that their performances could be rewarded.
