How Dean Smith’s 2,200 mile journey helped Aston Villa achieve the impossible
Trez #Trez
Aston Villa have had their fair share of cult heroes over the years and you can add Trezeguet to that growing list as the Egypt international has completed a move to Trabzonspor.
He might have only started 34 games over three seasons for Villa, but his impact on the club’s recent history has proved significant to say the very least. Without his goals during Project Restart, Dean Smith’s side would have been relegated, and that’s a fact. Villa made up a seven point gap with just four games remaining of the season, with Trezeguet winning six of them with crucial goals in home wins against Crystal Palace and Arsenal.
Those two wins came either side of a 1-1 draw with Everton at Goodison Park, before the same result kept Smith’s men above the dotted line at the end of a gruelling Project Restart period. And it was Trezeguet who stepped up to the plate and kicked off Villa’s survival mission with two goals against Palace.
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Trezeguet’s double put his goal tally for the season to seven, after netting three goals in four games earlier in the campaign, with those coming in 2-1 defeats to Liverpool, Wolves and Chelsea. His eighth Premier League goal however, will be remembered as one of the most important goals that any Villa player has scored in recent memory.
Conor Hourihane’s out-swinging corner met Trezeguet at the edge of the box, and with exquisite technique, the Egyptian fired a half-volley past Emiliano Martinez, who was left grounded by the ferocity of the strike. A dogged performance after Trezeguet’s goal in the 27th minute allowed Smith’s side to plunge Watford into the bottom three and enter the final weekend of the longest Premier League season to date outside of the bottom three.
In the knowledge that a result that bettered Watford’s, Villa traveled to the London Stadium with that much-needed belief and managed to complete the job, even if it was a close run thing in the end. With four games left to play, no team in Premier League history has ever made up a greater points deficit than Villa did to survive relegation that season, since 1993.
The following campaign, Trezeguet started Villa’s first seven games, including the 7-2 win over Liverpool, 3-0 win at Fulham, 1-0 victory over Leicester and the 3-0 win at the Emirates over Arsenal. But after picking up an injury after the defeat to West Ham, he didn’t start any of Villa’s next 16 games, despite only being unavailable for six of those matches. It was the start of the end for Trezeguet’s brief career at Villa Park, and following an ACL injury that he picked up at Liverpool in April 2021, he’d make only one more appearance for the club in the Premier League – his first and last under Steven Gerrard in December against Brentford.
He cost Villa just £10million from Kasimpasa, and Smith and former sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch flew out some 2,200 miles to watch him in action for Egypt in Africa Cup of Nations in Cairo. They liked what they saw and the rest is history.
‘Back post Trez’ as fans have since named him, the winger sent Villa into a League Cup final with a goal fitting of his description, as he connected with Ahmed Elmohamady’s cross to bring the house down for the second time in days, as Ezri Konsa’s late winner over Watford sparked scenes of jubilation at Villa Park too. Those are the moments why we fall in love with football and the Villa – thanks to Trezeguet, we hope to have many more in the Premier League.
What is your favourite memory from Trezeguet’s time at Villa? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section…
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