By John Townley
Copyright birminghammail
Leon Bailey has endured a nightmare start to his career at AS Roma. The winger is yet to make his debut for the Serie A giants and has barely trained with Gian Piero Gasperini’s squad. After joining on an initial loan from Aston Villa on August 20, Bailey suffered an injury during his very first training session with his new teammates. That setback has kept him sidelined for more than a month, though reports in Italy suggest he has now begun individual training and is expected to return to action after the October international break. Having spent the opening weeks of his loan spell on the treatment table, Bailey will be desperate to prove his worth under Gasperini later this month. Villa also have a strong interest in seeing him succeed in Italy, as they could bank up to £19 million from a potential permanent sale next summer. Villa have already received around £2.6 million as a loan fee for Bailey, but they may struggle to secure the full £19 million if he fails to impress at Roma this season. That’s why it is in everyone’s best interest that the 28-year-old rediscovers form under Gasperini, especially with only one year left on his Villa contract at the end of the campaign. When Villa and Roma held talks over Bailey’s move, negotiations initially centred on an obligation to buy at the end of the season. However, further discussions resulted in Roma instead securing only an option to make the deal permanent. A £19 million fee would represent sound business for Villa given Bailey’s contract situation, though they will not be cheering him on in the Europa League if it comes at the expense of Unai Emery’s side. UEFA rules mean Bailey would be eligible to face Villa despite being on loan, just as Samuel Iling-Junior and Marco Asensio were allowed to play against their parent clubs last season. Every day, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Aston Villa content. Our dedicated reporter John Townley – who you can follow on X by clicking here – follows Villa home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur – that’s why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you’ll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Villa newsletter here . You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive’s Villa team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club. If you prefer reading our Villa stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Villa as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here . Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here , while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here .
