Gary Gardner enjoyed a healthy season at Aston Villa after years of injury misery. A drop to the second division afforded the lifelong Brummie a chance to impress a pair of managers.
CM – Gary Gardner, 24
Appearances: 18 + (8)
WhoScored Aggregate: 6.47
Goals/Assists: 1/0
Gary Gardner revitalized his Aston Villa career nearly five years after it began. At one point in 2011-2012, Gardner was an automatic Premier League starter for the claret and blues at 18. Thereafter, a series of five loan spells and an ACL tear almost derailed his career.
The 24-year old was one of the few players in Roberto Di Matteo’s squad that possessed Championship experience. Hopes were high for the Englishman during pre-season training.
However, his performances were mixed. Gardner started 18 league matches and went on to make a further eight substitute appearances. He totaled 1,392 minutes of football on the season. Gardner, often deployed as a deep play-maker, struggled to circulate the ball forward effectively. On the season, he failed to assist on a single Villa goal. Though, some of that can be attributed to Villa’s 4th-lowest 47 league goals scored.
The highlight of Gardner’s season was his only goal on the season – a well-placed header over arch-rivals, Birmingham City.
With quality central midfielders already on the roster (Lansbury, Jedinak, Hourihane, Grealish, Bacuna, Lyden etc.), Gardner is unlikely to start every match at Aston Villa. However, I would like to see him play farther up the pitch as opposed to defensive midfield. The player’s lack of elite athleticism, injury history, and lack of strength would be better suited as a #10 than a #8/6.
Gardner can really strike the ball the ball, too. Farther up the pitch, the more chances to create goals in and around the eighteen.
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2017-2018 Prediction: Gardner recently signed a new deal, tying him to Villa Park until 2020. However, he is firmly entrenched behind several central midfielders in the squad. That gap becomes slightly longer following Birkir Bjarnason’s return from knee surgery. Gardner receives under twenty starts in league play next season.