IT’S something that will not make headlines but Marvelous Nakamba finished among the Top Five ball-winning midfielders in the English Premiership last season.

Only Declan Rice, Phillip Billing, N’Golo Kante and Wilfred Ndidi did better than the Zimbabwean among the players who played, at least, 1 500 minutes.
That’s according to defensive data collected by the authoritative sources at Breaking The Lines.

So, in simple terms, Nakamba, for a player in his first season in the Premiership, played very well.
His role is to win the ball and play it out — not gain the headlines.

But, in the post-season breakdown of Aston Villa players, Nakamba is someone who flies under the radar a little bit — despite his general importance to the team.

He didn’t score important goals, he wasn’t a regular starter post-lockdown, and he wasn’t involved in many critical moments.

He’s been linked to a few moves away — but do Villa really want to see the back of Nakamba?

Was it a bad season for Nakamba then?
By no means.

The tough-tackling midfielder emerged as an early star during the tough first portion of the season, and even earned a spot on some highlight reels thanks to a crunching challenge in the League Cup final, against Manchester City.

He’s rather unique in this Villa side as well.
The early stages of the season saw Nakamba singled out as a top performer and crucial to the side.

According to Statsbomb, Villa had given “Nakamba a thankless job, and he’s doing it admirably’’.-The Herald