Yacouba Sylla struck me as being nervous on his debut against Everton. As I watched him he was not calm and lunged into pointless challenges, but understandably as games passed by, Sylla started to show the talent that Lambert and his team must have seen to convince him to part with Randy Lerner’s money . I will be the first to admit I was rather sceptical of him joining as he was literally plucked out of nowhere, as when players like the pass-master, Ashley Westwood, knew what he was all about.
In the upcoming season I expect to see a lot more from Sylla as he will now understand the English game a lot more than when he first joined Paul Lambert’s revolution. In a recent interview the Mali international was quoted as saying, “I want to impose myself, to progress, to keep going. I will not say that I want to settle down in life, but I will work and give everything, and then we’ll see.” He obviously has ambitions to progress like any player, and I just hope Aston Villa is not a launch pad for this player. I hope he will stay for a long time as our team develops. I firmly believe in a few years time we will once again be challenging for Europe.
Nobody surprised me more in the second of the season than Sylla, because I was always aware of what Christian Benteke was capable of, so it was a pleasant surprise how well Yacouba began to adapt to the game and Lambert’s style of play. I believe already he is a better player than Fabian Delph and maybe he can follow in his idols footsteps (Yaya Toure), but obviously stay at Villa.
Long may his success on the field continue next season.
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Main Photo Credit: Aston Villa FC
