Aston Villa have had a stellar 2023/24. They have achieved Champions League qualification by finishing fourth in the Premier League and reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League.
Unai Emery has turned a squad who were 17th in the Premier League when he took over last season into one of the most exciting and enterprising teams in the whole competition, with a deserved reward at the end of it.
There have been several Villa players who have had the year of their lives in this campaign, too. England international Ollie Watkins has been one of the best players in the Premier League, having scored 19 goals and registered 13 assists in 36 games. He is one of three players with 30 goal involvements.
Ollie Watkins
32
Erling Haaland
32
Cole Palmer
31
Stats from SofaScore
Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz has also been phenomenal in the middle of the park for the Villans. He has nine goals and five assists in 34 matches in the Premier League, which has earned him a place in Brazil’s Copa America squad ahead of the tournament this summer.
However, despite a superb time of things across the board for Villa, there have been some players who have struggled to make an impact at Villa Park this term. One of those players has had a frustrating time, only playing very occasionally.
Calum Chambers' 2023/24 stats
The player in question here is the former Arsenal and England centre-back Calum Chambers. It has certainly been a frustrating campaign for the 29-year-old, who has found opportunities under Emery few and far between.
Chambers has made just seven appearances in all competitions throughout 2023/24, with just four of those coming in the Premier League. He hasn’t started a domestic game this season, although he did manage to register an assist, which came in the 3-3 draw against Liverpool, in Villa’s most recent Premier League outing.
It is perhaps unsurprising that Chambers has not featured much for Villa this term. Emery has had a consistently settled back four, with the likes of Ezri Konsa with 49 games, Pau Torres with 39 games and Diego Carlos with 37 games all featuring as key defenders.
Indeed, Emery is famed for the high line in which his Villa side deploys. Whilst it is risky considering you could let attackers in behind, they ideally hope to catch opponents offside. As of April, they had caught 142 opponents offside, a remarkable 40 more occasions than any other team in the Premier League.
Chambers wage in 2024
Chambers earns a substantial amount of money per week at Villa, which, given the amount of minutes he has played this season, could certainly be better spent. According to Capology, Chambers earns £50k-per-week at Villa Park.
Whilst the England international, who has three caps for his country, all in 2014 under Roy Hodgson, is not one of the highest earners at Villa, he still receives a higher salary per week than one of their most talented youngsters.
Aston Villa defender Calum Chambers
Compared to Chambers’ weekly take home, exciting attacker Jhon Duran, earns just £30k-per-week, with January signing Morgan Rogers earning slightly less, with £20k-per-week.
Duran has hardly played much himself but his double goal heroics against Liverpool on Monday evening spoke volumes of the vast amount of talent this young striker possesses. He is at the opposite end of his career but certainly deserves a wage hike if this sort of form continues.
Given the amount of money Chambers earns, and his lack of minutes under Emery, it could well be the case that the former Arsenal man departs the club in the summer. As per Dan Bardell via Aston Villa News, Chambers is “waiting until the end of the season to see if there are any better options for him to move to”, before explaining that “Emery just never seemed to trust him”, following the first European game of the campaign.
He joined Villa on a free, meaning they will make a profit on any potential sale of Chambers this summer. At this stage, it is unclear where he will go, but a move away from Villa Park seems almost inevitable.
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ByJoe NuttallMay 15, 2024