18 Feb 2026 15:25:42
Malen has now scored 5 goals in his last 5 appearances for AS Roma, 2 braces in his last 2 matches in that too.
Given Watkins poor form this season surely it would have been better to keep Malen and play him as an out and out forward, at least for half a dozen games. We're now left with Watkins and Abraham, who hasn't impressed so far since his return.
I'm concerned about the remainder of the season, as many Villa fans are, having got ourselves into such a strong position in the EPL and in the Europa League.
18 Feb 2026 16:16:09
Trinity, everyone with an ounce of football logic must now realise that it was an unacceptable choice to sell Malen, it's too late and nothing can be done. Remember we are still playing with the majority of the team from Smiths era, you can only wax lyrical about what Emery has achieved with the choices he has available. However, who sanctioned the purchase/ loans of Elliott, Guessand Sancho and the sale of Malen.
Surely the experience and contacts of our elite well paid management team should have found us some quality that we need to push on. There are players out their that are within our financial limits and yet we go back to old names from the past. It has to be a concern Trinity.
18 Feb 2026 17:30:12
Or is it just that Malen has moved into a league that is less competitive and so is performing relatively well? Wouldn't be the first premiere league player that's happened to.
Don't get me wrong, he was a useful player and in an ideal world I'd have liked to keep him too, but it would be a bit selective to just remember the goals/stats and not the several games where he looked out of place and went missing.
Factor in his large salary and our financial pressures, it does kind of make sense. We have to live in the world we're in, not the world we want sometimes.
18 Feb 2026 17:57:04
Plenty of players have looked good in the Italian league in recent years while not being up to par elsewhere.
Malen cannot play centre forward in the premier league as a starter. We did try it several times and he only looked good when coming on as a sub.
He wanted to be a regular starter as a number 9 and we couldn't give him that. If he was willing to play wide then he may have had a future with us, as it is, this is the best for all parties.
19 Feb 2026 18:39:30
At the moment I certainly don't think it's best for us, Guessand, Bailey, Sancho aren't or didn't deliver or offer what Malen did, so how can that be good for us, with Ollie firing blanks our two attacking midfield players injured Malen certainly covered our shortfall.