Despite the club recovering from near-dire straits last season to muscle their way into Europa League qualification, Villarreal have parted ways with Javi Calleja in favor of former Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Valencia, and Sevilla boss Unai Emery.
Calleja played a key role in the development of Samu Chukwueze, giving him his Europa League and La Liga debut in 2018 at 19-years-old. Now, with the relatively inexperienced boss out and the seasoned Emery in, Chukwueze looks poised to take yet another step towards fulfilling his potential as one of Nigeria’s most exciting prospects.
Chukwueze’s rise through the Yellow Submarine
Samu Chukwueze has been nearly flawless since La Liga picked up again, with the Nigerian winger blossoming into his highly-touted potential. Coming out of the Diamond Academy in 2017, already a U-17 World Cup winner, Chukwueze was courted by several big-name clubs, including Arsenal. However, he chose Villarreal’s set-up as he knew that game time would be crucial to his development.
While Villarreal is spoiled for choice on the wings, Chukwueze was deployed 41 times this season, with a total of 22 starts. Averaging 55 minutes per game, the top prospect scored four goals and set up six more this season, playing a key role in transforming the club’s fortunes.
The 21-year-old was also a core part of the team last season, clocking 47 appearances, ten goals, and four assists. In 2018/19, however, the Yellow Submarine were tasked with evading relegation, doing so by a mere seven points. This season, Villarreal surged to fifth, bumping Getafe out of the picture, who are still competing in the Europa League at +1400 in the odds on football to claim the trophy.
It’s been quite a turnaround, with Chukwueze’s continually developing skills greatly helping the club. Now, Unai Emery is stepping in, assumedly to enhance the team’s chances of staying in the Europa League places next season and potentially winning the competition to gain access to the Champions League, given his experience in European competitions.
Emery’s tactics could see Chukwueze’s goal contribution soar
Before the summer of transfers gets underway, a partnership of Emery and Chukwueze on his right-wing looks exemplary. In fact, while Emery was at Arsenal, not only was the London club after the Nigerian, but he was described as being a strong fit for the Premier League outfit.
Chukwueze’s primary assets are his cool-headed finishing, fleet-footed dribbling, upper-body strength, and sheer determination. Under Emery, he’ll be expected to be a goal threat and will be put in a position to set his sights on goal. With the ball, Emery’s tactics often seen the wingers cut inside, almost alongside the striker, to help overwhelm the defense and allow the full-backs to surge up the by-line.
However, as he’s already experienced under Calleja, Chukwueze will likely be rotated a fair bit. Emery is once again blessed with a talented and versatile attacking corps, with Chukwueze, Moi Gomez, Gerard Moreno, Javi Ontiveros, and the returning loanee Leo Suarez all capable of featuring on either wing – especially as they’ll be expected to play more towards the center.
Emery has seen many of his wingers become top scoring options for his teams. The likes of Angel Di Maria, Neymar, Vitolo, Lucas Moura, Joaquin, and Jose Antonio Reyes all notching a bunch of goals and assists in Emery’s system. Next season, Chukwueze might become his next star winger.
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