Dan Bardell believes Leon Goretzka's return will finally give Unai Emery the midfield choices Aston Villa have been missing, with João Gomes, Boubacar Kamara and Johan Manzambi all part of a fascinating selection question that could eventually become even stronger when Amadou Onana returns.
One of the things we've not really been able to judge properly during the opening weeks of Aston Villa's season is what Unai Emery actually wants his first-choice midfield to look like, because between injuries, suspensions and players still getting themselves completely up to speed, we've never really had everybody available at the same time.
That is why I'm so intrigued to see what happens when Leon Goretzka is fit because, of all the players Villa signed during the summer, he was probably the one I was most excited about and we've barely been able to see him. There was obviously plenty of excitement around the younger players because of what they could become, and we've already seen enough from the likes of Zion Suzuki and Johan Manzambi to understand why Villa were so keen on them, but Goretzka was different because this was somebody arriving with a body of work at the very highest level already behind him.
He's spent the best part of eight years playing regularly for Bayern Munich, he's played at the highest level for Germany and he's been involved in the biggest games you can play in at club level, so you're not signing somebody who needs to discover what elite football looks like. He's lived in that environment for years and I think that can be incredibly valuable to a Villa dressing room which has lost some big personalities and some very experienced players during the summer.
We've spoken a lot over the years about Tyrone Mings and John McGinn being standard setters at Villa, and rightly so because they understand the club probably better than anybody else in that dressing room, but Goretzka can bring something slightly different to that. He can walk into Bodymoor Heath as somebody completely new to Aston Villa but with the authority that comes from what he has done elsewhere, and I think even experienced players are going to look at somebody with that CV and recognise that there are things they can learn from him.
Boubacar Kamara isn't a young player trying to establish himself anymore and João Gomes arrived with plenty of experience himself, but Goretzka has operated at a level above both for a very long time. That doesn't automatically make him a better player than everybody around him at this stage of his career, but it gives him a perspective that Villa haven't had loads of in the dressing room and, from everything we've seen and heard so far, he appears to have embraced being here rather than treating Villa as somewhere to wind down after Bayern.
The frustrating thing is that we've not been able to see how Emery intended to use him because the injury came almost immediately, which is fairly typical of Villa when you consider how excited everybody was about finally getting him onto the pitch. In some ways, though, his absence has made the question around the midfield even more interesting because Gomes has had opportunities, Kamara has been working his way back towards full fitness and Manzambi has suddenly exploded into the picture as somebody who looks absolutely central to what this team could become.
If you're asking me to pick between Goretzka and Gomes alongside Kamara when everybody is fit, I think Goretzka probably starts, particularly in the biggest games. There will obviously be horses for courses because that's how Emery operates and there will be matches where Gomes' qualities are exactly what Villa need, but you don't bring in somebody with Goretzka's pedigree, presumably on significant wages, without having a major role in mind for him.
What makes it less straightforward is that I don't necessarily think his role always has to be alongside Kamara.
We've seen Emery use Youri Tielemans higher up the pitch in some of the biggest games previously, particularly when he wanted the security of two more defensively minded midfielders behind him, and I wonder whether there will be occasions where Goretzka can do something similar. You could conceivably have Kamara and Gomes sitting behind him, giving Villa an incredibly powerful midfield three without really sacrificing the ability to play, and Goretzka has spent enough of his career getting forward and arriving in attacking areas to make that interesting.
The knock-on effect is Manzambi because, after what we've seen from him already, I want him playing centrally as much as possible. Villa have missed that ability to carry the ball through the middle of the pitch and it's been such an important part of Emery's best teams here, initially through Jacob Ramsey and then Morgan Rogers, so moving Manzambi away from those central areas simply to accommodate somebody else isn't something I'd necessarily want to see every week.
He can play from the left and there will probably be games where that works extremely well, but I think we've already seen enough to believe his long-term influence could be greatest when he's allowed to receive centrally, turn and drive at people. His body movement and the way he shifts defenders is different to what Villa have had before, and I wouldn't want to lose too much of that by constantly asking him to start from a wider position.
That is why Goretzka returning isn't simply a case of deciding whether he or Gomes starts. It potentially changes the make-up of the entire midfield and the players operating immediately in front of it, and for the first time this season Emery might have some genuinely difficult decisions to make there.
We haven't really had that yet. Gomes has been suspended, Kamara hasn't looked completely back to where he was physically and Goretzka has been unavailable, so the midfield has largely picked itself through circumstance rather than Emery having three or four high-level options and deciding which combination best suits a particular opponent. The next few weeks should begin to change that, especially because this international break has probably arrived at a really useful moment for Kamara.
Emery has effectively spoken about the opening run of games being almost like a pre-season for some of these players and Kamara is one of the people I think will benefit from having this period to work. His injuries have disrupted him enormously over the last couple of years and they've also stalled an international career that should be much further along than it currently is because, at his best, I don't have any doubt that he's good enough to be playing for France.
Getting him back to that level is important for Villa before we even start discussing who partners him, because I still see Kamara as the constant in this midfield when he's completely fit. The really interesting part is what Emery then builds around him, because Gomes gives you aggression and energy, Goretzka gives you experience, physicality and the ability to affect the game further forward, while Manzambi potentially gives you the ball carrier Emery's Villa sides have always needed.
Then, further down the line, Amadou Onana comes back into the conversation as well.
That's why I think we need to look beyond the idea of Goretzka simply being Onana's replacement for this season. He probably is in practical terms while Onana is unavailable, but if Goretzka has the season I think he's capable of having, there is every chance he becomes part of the midfield group beyond that and effectively takes the place in the squad currently occupied by Ross Barkley. You could then be looking at Kamara, Gomes, Goretzka and Onana as the senior midfield options, with different combinations available depending on what Emery wants from a game.
That's a high-level group and, more importantly, it's a group with variety.
Villa have changed a lot during the summer and inevitably we've spent most of the opening weeks talking about the new goalkeeper, the new centre-forward and the attacking players because those are the changes you notice immediately, but I think getting Goretzka onto the pitch could be every bit as important to understanding what this new version of Villa is supposed to look like.
We've just had to wait considerably longer than we wanted to see it.
