Could a Carles Gil Loan Recall Push Villa Forward?

Young Spaniard Carles Gil has had a rough go while on-loan at Deportivo La Coruña. Could his recall be the missing key for Aston Villa?

Get ready for hot takes because I don’t think any Aston Villa player garners a more widely divided opinion from supporters than Carles Gil.

Detractors will say he’s diminutive, injury prone, not willing to press, and doesn’t score enough to warrant a place in the first eleven.

His fans will say he’s young, still only twenty-three. He’s experienced for such a young age with extensive La Liga and Premier League action at two big clubs: Valencia and Aston Villa.

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Moreover, analysts will point to the singular most important fact regarding Carles Gil: he’s skilled. Like really, insanely skilled with the ball at his feet. His ball carrying ability is the skilled poetry of Tennyson on the pitch.

No player in this current Villa squad can replicate his deft ability to move the ball, save maybe for Jack Grealish. His technical qualities relieve pressure by holding possession–something this Aston Villa team under both Roberto Di Matteo and Steve Bruce have struggled with.

What’s more with Gil is that he has a wicked left-foot. Nearly every Villa attacker is right-foooted: Kodjia, McCormack, Gestede, Hepburn-Murphy, Grealish, Agbonlahor, Adomah, Ayew all included.

It’s no secret Carles Gil really struggled in the Premier League last season. Every player did. Is he the final linking piece centrally between the robust attack and the workmanlike midfield? Possibly.

One concern with Carles Gil is the question of whether or not he’s physically capable of playing in the Championship. He’s 5’7″ with a history of injury. Another, is where to slot him on the pitch with whom coming off?

Under Rémi Garde, Gil frequently featured on the right-side of midfield (Yeah, didn’t make sense to me either). In a proper format, Gil would link centrally with very little responsibility on the defensive side of the ball, aka: Andrea Pirlo, but in a far more forward position.

It’s probably not realistic to expect anything out of Carles Gil–more of just a theoretical possibility. Moreover, we have no concrete evidence Steve Bruce would even fancy him coming back.

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