Ashley Westwood will play a big role for Aston Villa next season (Picture: Getty Images)

This time last year, I waxed lyrical on the limitless potential of Ashley Westwood, to the point of suggesting he was an Aston Villa captain in waiting.

My view on him hasn’t changed – he could yet flourish into an England international and the fact he held the armband at Crewe aged 22 says he could handle responsibility if it came his way.

But the team’s struggles last season checked his progress a little. The pressure of the relegation fight, and the firefighting which often went on in midfield, left no time for personal development.

Westwood was one of the club’s better performers but the stats show clearly the slight dip on his fine first season in Villa colours.




In 2012-13, his pass success rate was up at 84.8 per cent, just shy of Juan Mata (85.2 per cent) but better than Jordan Henderson (84.5 per cent). By way of comparison, Brett Holman was down at 73.8%.

Last season, Westwood’s figure had dropped to 82.9 per cent – doesn’t sound like much, but it meant a fall of 50 places in the possession rankings.

Stats don’t always tell the full story, of course, but they are emblematic of a player who hasn’t quite pushed on in the way that, say, his midfield colleague Fabian Delph did last season.

Westwood’s strength is his simplicity. His metronomic passing style, which has seen him compared to Michael Carrick, means his best work often goes unnoticed.

Ashley Westwood must learn from the improvement made last season by Fabian Delph (Picture: PA)

However, this Villa side, which has been built on a pacy, counter-attacking style, needs a little bit more dynamism from the former Crewe man.

He’s never been a prolific scorer – we won’t see too many like his Hawthorns howitzer last season – but he could play a greater role going forward if Villa had a destroyer anchoring the midfield.

However, with a Claude Makelele-type figure unlikely to pitch up at Villa Park any time soon, Westwood will play that role himself again this term.

All of which makes it a massive season for the 24-year-old. He’s yet to reach his prime, but he needs to start showing progress in the same way Delph did last year.

Paul Lambert has often described Westwood as ‘a nice lad’. If he can add a mean streak when he crosses the white line, and take the midfield by the scruff of the neck, it’ll allow Delph to push forward and support Joe Cole and the forward line.

Westwood is a big talent. If he’d gone from Crewe into a more settled Premier League side not being rebuilt from the ground up with equally inexperienced players, he’d have undoubtedly developed quicker.

As it is, all of our youngsters have been thrown in at the deep end, many of them floundering. Westwood has been one of the exceptions.

If he can take it to the next level, as Delph did last season, our midfield will.

MORE: Six reasons why Aston Villa fans can be slightly cheerful as the new season looms

MORE: Club Metro