Aston Villa Ace Reveals Honest Take on Whether Marco Asensio Could Steal Playing Time | OneFootball

Marco Asensio has been impressing on loan at Aston Villa, scoring a brace in their FA Cup win over Cardiff City on Friday night. He’s found the back of the net twice in two of his last three matches for the Premier League side.

If Asensio keeps up this form, there will likely be a market for him in the summer transfer window. Aston Villa will have to decide whether to invest in making the move permanent.

Asensio has quickly formed a strong partnership with Marcus Rashford, which could tempt Villa to keep him long-term. However, there’s also a La Liga club eager to bring him back to Spain.

With Aston Villa’s winter transfer window arrivals hitting the ground running, do other players feel their minutes could be in jeopardy?

Leon Bailey talks about Marco Asensio’s impact at Aston Villa

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

One player who could see his role and minutes cut is Leon Bailey. Still, while speaking after Friday’s win, the Jamaican international downplayed that he’s worried about the rise of Asensio and Marcus Rashford on the team affecting his role.

“No, I don’t think that’s ever the focus,” Bailey said (h/t Birmingham Mail). “I think that’s more so for the media. That’s for you guys to think. But honestly, we as the players, we don’t think like that.

“We’re all on the same team, we all have the same objective and the same goal. For us, as I said before, it’s more about gelling together, playing well together.”

Moreover, Bailey noted what’s most important is that whoever is out on the pitch can gel with the other players to ensure that the squad is successful week in and week out.

“Whoever is on the pitch, making sure that the connection is there,” Bailey added. “Because that’s the only way we’re going to win the game. Not by trying to compete with your own teammate. We don’t think like that.

“The main objective for us is to be able to gel well together. If it’s not working for me, we know that we have somebody strong as well to be able to come on and bring a better impact.

“As I said, that’s the only way we know how to do it because we want to win games. That’s the only way I know.”