That was the what-was-then Twitter message from the Villa when Leon Bailey made his first appearance at Villa Park, coming on as a substitute against Everton in August 2021. In twenty minutes he scored, injured himself celebrating and got booked for his trouble. It was a sign of things to come.

There’s nothing in football quite like the sort of player who gets the ball and you never know what’s coming next. It can be spectacular, embarrassing but rarely forgettable. In our modern history Villa have had a few of these; Yannick Bolasie, Trezeguet, Bertrand Traore, Nicolo Zaniolo.

Bailey had arrived that summer, complete with his linatic step-father, as part of the three in, one out departure of Jack Grealish, costing around £20 million from Bayer Leverkusen. After a decent start to the season Dean Smith was sadly sacked and even more sadly replaced by Steven Gerrard. Bailey’s season was dogged by injuries and he made just eight starts.

Gerrard was fortunately got rid of early in 2022-23, before he could do any more damage and Bailey got off to the perfect start for the new manager, scoring the opener in the 3-1 win over Manchester United that heralded the dawning of the Emery era. He was player of the month for November and, injury-free and allowed to flourish under the new manager, he began to live up to his reputation.

Bailey did more than that the following season, linking up with Moussa Diaby to get Villa into the Champions League. It looked as though Bailey finally had arrived as he scored ten league goals including the winner at home to Manchester |city in one of the most complete Villa Park performances for years.

Unfortunately that was as good as it got. Without Diaby in the team Bailey was back to his flattering to deceive standards; the odd flash of brilliance but nothing that made him irreplaceable. We need a sacrifice on the altar of Uefa and Leon Bailey is as good as anyone. He introduced himself in the best possible way and he’s saying goodbye without much of a farewell. If it’s roma he’s moving to I hope he does well, not only because he’s such an exciting player but also because a permanent transfer would help us out.

Also on his way, and similarly a player who hasn’t reached his full potential. at least not yet, is Jacob Ramsey. he first played for us in the championship and after a Covid-curtailed spell with Doncaster came into the first team the following year. By the time Jack Grealish left we could console ourselves with the thought that we had the next generational talent already rolling off the production line, and this one wasn’t going to come out with any of that My Club… nonsense.

Two seasons where stardom seemed inevitable included the certain knowledge that we were going to get another England international to add to the list. But yet again, the curse of the promising Villa youngster struck and 2023-24, a great year in every other aspect, saw Jacob struggling with a series of injuries, beginning with a summer metatarsal while playing for the England under-21s. Even when he was fully fit last season, Jacob seemed to be a bit short of his old self and you have to wonder whether he could have got back the form that made him one of the hottest prospects in the country a couple of years ago.