Johan Manzambi looked ready at Spurs – and that should excite Aston Villa

There was a moment during Aston Villa's win at Tottenham when Johan Manzambi picked up the ball and took a shot when the pass was probably the better option, and ordinarily that might be something you pick apart when assessing a number 10's performance, but in this instance I almost found myself liking it because it was one of the few reminders that we were actually watching a 20-year-old making his first Premier League start.

There wasn't much else about Manzambi that looked like a player taking his first steps at this level.

I've been excited about seeing him in this Villa team for a while because he felt like a statement signing. He only has a full season of top-flight senior football behind him with Freiburg, but he's physically developed beyond what you would ordinarily expect from somebody his age and, perhaps most importantly, he plays with the confidence of somebody who already believes he belongs at this level.

Tottenham was the first proper opportunity to see all of that from the beginning of a Premier League game and he didn't disappoint.

The goal will inevitably be the thing people remember because scoring on your first start gives the performance a headline, but I actually thought the position he occupied for it was almost as encouraging as the finish itself. Villa kept the situation alive after Boubacar Kamara's effort had travelled across goal and Manzambi was there inside the penalty area to take advantage. He might nominally be Villa's number 10, but he wasn't hanging around outside the box waiting for the ball to arrive at his feet. He recognised where the danger was developing and put himself in the position to benefit from it.

That's something Villa need from the players operating behind Nicolas Jackson because the responsibility for scoring goals can't simply sit with the centre-forward. Manzambi looks capable of getting beyond him, arriving around him and also dropping into the areas where he can influence possession, and that variety is what makes him so interesting.

Physically, he already looks suited to English football as well. He's got the frame to protect the ball but he's not simply powerful; he can manipulate it in tight spaces, shift his body quickly and carry possession forward. There is a smoothness to the way he moves which means he can escape pressure without necessarily having to beat somebody with an elaborate piece of skill, and when the game opened up after half-time those qualities became increasingly obvious.

That was probably my favourite period of his performance. Tottenham were chasing the game and leaving spaces that hadn't necessarily existed during the opening 45 minutes, and Manzambi started the second half almost in a flow state. Suddenly he was appearing everywhere, carrying the ball through midfield, combining with Jackson and giving Spurs problems whenever Villa turned possession over.

The Jackson relationship is one I want to see a lot more of because there were immediate signs that their respective qualities suit each other. Manzambi wants movement in front of him and Jackson will give him plenty of it. Equally, Jackson's ability to stretch defenders creates the spaces in which Manzambi can operate, and there were periods at Tottenham when the pair looked as though they had been playing together for considerably longer than they actually have.

There will be games when it doesn't work as smoothly. There will be occasions when Manzambi takes the shot instead of playing the pass, loses the ball trying something ambitious or makes the wrong decision in the final third. That's part of having a 20-year-old attacking midfielder and Villa shouldn't want to coach all of that risk out of him anyway.

What matters is the level he appears to be starting from.

We've spoken plenty about Villa's young players and rightly been excited about some of the talent coming through, but Manzambi is slightly different because he's already played a full senior season at a high level. This isn't purely about potential three or four years down the line. He looks capable of affecting Aston Villa games now.

One Premier League start obviously isn't enough to draw sweeping conclusions about what he will become, but it was enough to understand why there has been such excitement about getting him back onto the pitch.

Johan Manzambi looks ready, and the really exciting part is imagining what a player with this much natural ability can become after spending the next couple of years working under Unai Emery.

Emery will not take time bedding him in, he's ready NOW.