Leon Bailey was one of the names many Aston Villa fans felt should have started against Newcastle, whose cameo appearance from the bench spoke volumes and proved that it was a rare tactical mistake from Unai Emery.

Well, as the Aston Villa boss watched his team well and truly destroy Sheffield United 5-0 on Saturday, the fans got their wish because Leon Bailey started and he produced a masterclass.

gan Rogers,Mor who signed for the Midlands side on transfer deadline day, also made his debut from the bench at Bramall Lane and he reacted to the Jamaican’s performance on Instagram.

Dancing his way down that right flank, after John McGinn and Ollie Watkins had provided the away side with a rapid opening, Leon Bailey joined the party with a trademark left-footed curling effort into the top corner.

It’s what fans have come to expect of him this season, it’s now paramount that he starts every game possible – the 26-year-old has seven goals and six assists in 21 Premier League matches this term.

Nonetheless, Leon Bailey took to his IG to express his delight at his most recent dazzling display and he was lauded in the comments section by his teammates

Leon Bailey praised after Aston Villa beat Sheffield United 5-0

New boy Morgan Rogers, who will be hoping to showcase the same goalscoring touch when he is handed chances, wrote ‘too good’.

Whilst right-back Matty Cash, who dropped to the bench for the Sheffield United game, added that his teammate is a ‘joke’.

Kortney Hause added: “There’s not many better I tell ya.”

Leon Bailey – Aston Villa’s Player of the Season?

We are past the halfway stage of the campaign and it provides us with ample room to analyse and dissect how the season has gone and how individual players have performed.

Even though Bailey hasn’t been a regular starter throughout the campaign, whether it be from the bench or when he is in the XI, the £25 million signing has proven to be a constant problem.

Go back to the wins against Man City and Arsenal. He was probably the best player in both of those matches, even though he only played 45 against the Gunners.

In terms of Villa’s Player of the Season so far, there are many contenders, from Douglas Luiz again, Ollie Watkins, John McGinn and certainly Bailey too.

It showcases the progression that he has made because, under Steven Gerrard, he looked like a lost cause.