Calum Chambers could be set for bigger role in Emery’s Aston Villa

After what feels like an eternity since the club announced the appointment of Unai Emery, Aston Villa’s new head coach has finally started work.

When a new manager comes in, it means a fresh start for every player, and there will undoubtedly be some changes to the starting 11 based on Emery’s preferences. One player to benefit from this could be centre-back Calum Chambers.

At Villarreal, Emery was blessed with a talented, ball-playing CB in Pau Torres. He partnered Raul Albiol, who is somehow still playing football. Emery’s primary centre-backs at Arsenal, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratris Papastathopoulos, were also strong in the passing department.

Torres allowed Villarreal to build out from the back, and this is something Emery will likely want to emulate at Villa.

Among his positional peers in the ‘Big 5’ European leagues, Torres ranks:

• In the 53^rd percentile for passes attempted
• 54^th percentile for pass completion percentage
• 86^th percentile for progressive passes.

Villa’s closest comparable centre-back to Pau Torres in terms of passing ability is Diego Carlos, who is still recovering from a serious achilles injury. Carlos ranks in the 80^th, 59^th and 46^th percentile for the aforementioned metrics.

The next best option is Calum Chambers, and for this reason, he may be thrust into a more prominent role in Villa’ defence, at least in the short term. Chambers ranks in the 53^rd, 44^th and 47^th percentile.

While those numbers are only around average, they are significantly superior to that of Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Jan Bednarek:

• Ezri Konsa: 15^th, 61^st and 5^th percentile
• Tyrone Mings: 30^th, 25^th and 26^th percentile
• Jan Bednarek: 43^rd, 28^th and 10^th percentile.

At least until Diego Carlos returns — which may be at some point this season – or if Villa decides to go after a more progressive centre-back in January, Chambers projects as an important piece of Villa’s defence. Another factor which could make Chambers valuable is his previous experience with Emery.

While some things may have changed since Villa’s new boss left Arsenal, Chambers will be familiar with the fundamentals of what Emery wants to do, and should be able to pick up his instructions quickly, which will be important as he looks to get results from some daunting early fixtures.

So, who should partner him? Well, it doesn’t really matter. There is no tangible data which speaks to Raul Albiol’s impact on Villarreal, so there is nothing for Emery to try to recreate at Villa.

However, Albiol’s veteran leadership will have been valuable and Mings makes the most sense as Chambers’ partner in that regard. Mings is Villa’s only left-footed CB which would also make him the logical choice.

This would leave Konsa, who’s form has dipped in recent times, on the outside looking in. Konsa is still a talented defender and there is of course the chance he could be reinvented and reinvigorated under a new manager, but for the moment it is fair to question how he fits into Emery’s system.

Who do you think should start in central defence for Unai Emery’s Aston Villa? Let us know in the comments section below.