Aston Villa's Leon Bailey 'riled' back lack of game time

Bailey, 24, signed for Villa in the summer for £30 million from Bayer Leverkusen, but after a positive start he suffered a thigh injury in November and hasn't started a game since.

The Jamaican international has been brought on from the bench in four of Steven Gerrard's sides last six Premier League matches as he looks to force his way back into the Villa line-up.

However, his step father Butler, who is also the player's agent, has spoken out about his lack of game time on the Football Unfiltered YouTube channel, explaining how Bailey has been riled by his lack of game time.

But he goes on to say he's confident the player will feature more in the months to come.

He said: "Leon Bailey's back in the football world, playing again and recovered from injury. His last game was very encouraging. He's back in the saddle and raring to go.

"He doesn't like the bench, never will like the bench because he's the type of guy that always wants to play. He's been on the bench a couple of times and it really got him riled so, the minute he got onto the pitch, he showed what he can do. I'm sure he'll be featuring much more in the months to come."

It comes after Gerrard recently challenged Bailey and Bertrand Traore to force their way back into the Villa starting line-up.

Earlier this month, the Villa chief said: “I think I can speak on behalf of Bertrand and Leon that one of the main frustrations I’ve had as manager is not having them available to help the team enough.

“Leon came back and got an injury. Bertrand came back, went away with his national team and got injured.

“Those two, when we came into the job, were two really exciting players with high level skill we thought would help the team in the final third.

“We were really excited to come in and work with them but we’ve had very little time to do that. Having those two back fit and available really pushing the players in the XI will only be a benefit.”