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Alan Shearer says 24-year-old Aston Villa player has completely transformed Unai Emery’s team
Alan Shearer has been seriously impressed with Aston Villa star Moussa Diaby as he continues to hit the ground running this season.
Shearer on The Rest Is Football Podcast after a monumental weekend for Aston Villa.
There was a huge amount of expectation on the early kick-off on Saturday with an exciting Brighton side travelling to Villa Park.
It was clear very early on that Unai Emery had outthought his managerial opponent on this occasion.
Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins were isolating Brighton’s centre-backs time and again and they couldn’t deal with their pace.
The England international ended the game with a second hat-trick of the season, with the 24-year-old winger valiantly supporting him once again.
Alan Shearer has admitted that Moussa Diaby has transformed Unai Emery’s Aston Villa team since his summer arrival.
He already has five goal involvements in his first seven games and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
Shearer hails game-changing Villa signing Diaby
Talking about Aston Villa’s incredible 6-1 victory, : “I do think that [Moussa] Diaby has been a game changer for them because of his pace upfront because of how they can sit back and suck up a bit of pressure.
“But then once they win that ball back because of his pace and his ability to get in behind then I think he’s been a game changer for them.
“And he’s certainly helping Ollie Watkins be a better player, of course he got his hat-trick in front of the England manager and they battered the two young boys in midfield for Brighton, [Billy] Gilmour and [Jack] Hinshelwood.”
Aston Villa will know they have a fantastic opportunity to finish this season with European silverware.
Unai Emery has a phenomenal reputation in continental competitions and winning the Europa Conference League has to be the aim of this campaign.
He’s likely to rotate his squad at the beginning of the competition, but the likes of Diaby and Watkins will be vital in the knockout stages.
As Shearer has suggested, Diaby could be the game-changing player for Villa to get them over the line in both Premier League and European matches.
He’s quickly looking like one of the best signings of the summer across England’s top flight.