Jaden Philogene theory debunked and £84m Aston Villa transfer decision proves why
Jaden Philogene will be relishing his next chance to prove himself at the top level as he closes in on a move from Aston Villa to Ipswich Town.
The 22-year-old’s return to Villa simply did not work out, but that certainly doesn't make him a bad player or confirm that he isn't a Premier League standard as it has now been assumed. In fact, Unai Emery really did believe in his potential and exciting talent, as does Kieran McKenna and a whole host of other managers who were willing to take Philogene on loan this month, including on the continent. Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano even claimed Villa had inserted a release clause close to £84m in his contract last summer.
The Villa boss admitted to making a mistake in selling Philogene for just £5m to Hull City after watching him regularly make defenders look silly in the Championship. Granted, there’s a big gulf in quality between the likes of Millwall and Man City, but this is the same division which Villa plucked Morgan Rogers from last January.
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Both players started against Bayern Munich in the Champions League and performed brilliantly. It was a big vote of confidence to start Philogene by Emery, who has now reluctantly let him leave his squad for a second time.
Philogene needs to be playing football - that’s why he accepted a move to Hull instead of a place on the bench in Villa’s team last term having impressed in pre-season. His role in the team this campaign was to challenge Leon Bailey for a starting berth off the right.
Bailey has struggled for form due to niggling injuries and only scored his first goal of the season last weekend, yet Philogene has only started two of Villa’s 20 league games. Emery admitted last week that his adaptation had been slower than he had hoped.
But the chances of Philogene hitting the ground running from the start of the season were slim considering the system which Emery deploys. His left-back, Lucas Digne or Ian Maatsen, keeps the width on one side and Bailey on the right.
The left-sided forward, be it Rogers, Jacob Ramsey or John McGinn, then essentially operates as an inside 10. Philogene plays his best football off the left, but is not suited to creating inside the pitch.
Instead, he wants to play with freedom off the flank and beat players to then either make or score goals. For Hull last season, Philogene scored 10 times in 22 league matches from the left, compared with two goals in 10 starts on the right.
On a per 90-minute basis, only two Championship players averaged more efforts on goal in 2023/24, but at Villa, Philogene didn’t show confidence or belief when he had the opportunity to threaten. He had also registered the highest rate of shot-ending ball carries in the Championship at 49.3.
In an ideal world, Emery would have kept Philogene in his team to continue working on his game and more importantly, work out how he fitted in his structure, but Ipswich’s £20m plus add-ons offer was a strong one.
It represents a sizeable profit on Philogene, who was signed for around £13m after Villa matched the Tractor Boys’ £18m offer to Hull City, while they also had a 30 per cent sell-on clause.
