The Athletic’s reporter, Carl Anka has named Aston Villa record signing, Moussa Diaby as his Player of the Season so far.
It has been a great season for Aston Villa so far and with that has seen many top performances from all over the pitch.
Over the summer, Unai Emery was keen on bringing in some attacking reinforcements and that is exactly what he did.
In Moussa Diaby, the Villans found their new star following his £55 million move from Bayer Leverkusen.
Since his move he has stood out for his ability, forming excellent bonds with Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey in particular.
What has Carl Anka said about Moussa Diaby?
As a part of The Athletic’s Roundtable, Anka was asked to outline who his Player of the Year was and why.
The journalist opted to go for the Villa star in his first Premier League season and was clearly mesmerised by the Frenchman.
Discussing his start to life in B6, Anka said: “Villa’s Diaby is a joy to watch.
“A mercurial, front-foot winger who is good at all that clever stuff managers want from inverted forwards but also doesn’t forget the value of getting chalk on his boots and challenging his full-back on the outside.”
In recent weeks fans have felt that Diaby has failed to do so much of the attacking that he had been famed for to begin the season.
With that being said, he set such a high standard in his opening weeks, that it will be hard to keep that up for a whole year.
He has struggled to get on the scoresheet more recently and often looks visibly frustrated. But in saying that, just watch his goal against Luton Town and you wouldn’t know that as he smashed the ball in.
Continuing on, Anka added: He, along with Doku, are wonderful reminders that dribbling isn’t dead. Sometimes you just want a quick player to run at a strong player and watch what happens next.”
Ironically, Villa were once linked with the now-Manchester City star but opted to bring in Diaby over him.
The Frenchman has had an excellent start to life at Villa Park and let’s hope he can get back to his unstoppable best soon.
