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Leon Bailey


PaulMcGrath_5

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Would be a shame if we didn't give him a proper crack at it this season. With a good preseason behind him, hopefully he can get rolling. There's a good player in there. We're all excited about Kamara, well Leon was the winger version of him last season. He'll need to adapt his game a bit for our current system, but he's still a good enough player to do so 

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There is a great player in there but I always thought it would take a season to adapt (as it often does with players from the Bundesliga) and unfortunately he has barely had the chance through injuries.

we didn’t sign an injury prone player he has just been unfortunate on that he has spent as many days injured for us as he had in his entire career previously. 
He did look slow when he came back after his last come back but I believe he was just concerned as his last hamstring Injury had come from him running at full pace.

I believe once he comes back from this injury and gets his confidence back we will see a different player, the one we all thought we were signing

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2 minutes ago, VillaHatesMe said:

He has plenty of talent. My fear is he isn't tough enough. Any slight injury and he's out a month. 

I've been saying, it would be extremely naive of Leon himself, his team, and the club, to not have him on a serious strength straining program.

Both to strengthen his weak points, and to build him up, he's too slight IMO.

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2 hours ago, VillaHatesMe said:

He has plenty of talent. My fear is he isn't tough enough. Any slight injury and he's out a month. 

He was never injured much at Leverkusen.

Came a bit injured at the start but think pulling up after scoring v Everton pretty much killed his season as he's never looked as rapid since.

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2 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I've been saying, it would be extremely naive of Leon himself, his team, and the club, to not have him on a serious strength straining program.

Both to strengthen his weak points, and to build him up, he's too slight IMO.

I'm starting to look at the Bundesliga sideways now because I thought it was supposed to be almost as physical as the prem. He is way too slight as you say.

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23 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

He was never injured much at Leverkusen.

Came a bit injured at the start but think pulling up after scoring v Everton pretty much killed his season as he's never looked as rapid since.

While he never had a season like the one he had here with Leverkusen, he only played 60% of the possible minutes in the Bundesliga in the four seasons from 2017-18 to 2020-21. Considering he started most matches he played, this suggests he's never been seen as somebody you can rely on for 90 minutes on a weekly basis.

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Based on practically nothing, I’ve had a feeling in my gut from the start that this transfer just isn’t going to work out, although I really want it to. I don’t get the vibe he’s happy, his advisors are knobs, he’s had a really hard time with injuries so settling must have been nearly impossible for him and I just feel like it isn’t going to click. I’ve had the same feelings with Ings. Something just feels off and the match doesn’t feel right. 

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10 hours ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

Have him workout with Diego Carlos for a couple of months and he’ll be plenty tough, lol.

Grealish, JJ, and Ronaldo are good examples of players who spent a summer in the gym, and came back on another level, physically and mentally.

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1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Grealish, JJ, and Ronaldo are good examples of players who spent a summer in the gym, and came back on another level, physically and mentally.

Agbonlahor is an example that went the other way, remember he claimed to have bulked up one summer and he seemed to lose some of that pace that made him actually useful. 

Edited by Tommo_b
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14 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Agbonlahor is an example that went the other way, remember he claimed to have bulked up one summer and he seemed to lose some of that pace that made him actually useful. 

True, but thing is, Gabby never really had any natural " skill " in the first place, his pace WAS his skill, lol.

Leon has natural skill, finishing and set piece ability, so him losing a couple yards of pace, to be able to stay fit and strong, would be on ok trade off IMO.

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32 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Agbonlahor is an example that went the other way, remember he claimed to have bulked up one summer and he seemed to lose some of that pace that made him actually useful. 

You'd like to think our professionalism let alone our staffing has gone up

If that's what the club has asked him to do then we also give him a 2 or 3 man support team to help him do it right

Gabby and Micah Richards both look like they were just told to go to the gym and get stronger and they took that as doing chest and shoulders 6 times a week 

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6 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

You'd like to think our professionalism let alone our staffing has gone up

If that's what the club has asked him to do then we also give him a 2 or 3 man support team to help him do it right

Gabby and Micah Richards both look like they were just told to go to the gym and get stronger and they took that as doing chest and shoulders 6 times a week 

I think his first bulk summer 09 was the sweet spot:

image.png.e7586db96d5f90114202b9bb712c84a9.png

Once he hit this stage the next summer, it was a wrap. Started picking up way more injuries too, and found it hard to keep off the extra weight:

Gabriel-Agbonlahor-Sept-2010-pa_2504946.

Houllier actually told him to stop, that it was his wiry pace that made him so good. Can't imagine he took to that too kindly. Turned out he was right though.

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1 hour ago, Keyblade said:

I think his first bulk summer 09 was the sweet spot:

image.png.e7586db96d5f90114202b9bb712c84a9.png

Once he hit this stage the next summer, it was a wrap. Started picking up way more injuries too, and found it hard to keep off the extra weight:

Gabriel-Agbonlahor-Sept-2010-pa_2504946.

Houllier actually told him to stop, that it was his wiry pace that made him so good. Can't imagine he took to that too kindly. Turned out he was right though.

He was so good when he was thin! Agbonlahor is the same age as Vardy—what could have been.

Vardy kept his body shape and pace. He is clearly the superior player, but Gabby still could have been so much better for us for so much longer.

Edited by Rolta
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6 minutes ago, Rolta said:

He was so good when he was thin! Agbonlahor is the same age as Vardy—what could have been.

Vardy kept his body shape and pace. He is clearly the superior player, but Gabby still could have been so much better for us for so much longer.

No defence of Gabby but he was badly managed as well. Grealish has no idea how lucky he is as if he came along 5 years earlier he would be similar waste 

 

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