Unai Emery’s Aston Villa do not care typically for the Carabao Cup.
Often, their campaign starts and ends in September. It ranks at the bottom of the list of priorities, embodied in Emery’s traditional Carabao Cup attire, whereby he exchanges the formalities of his league dress code for a tracksuit and trainers. A precursor to that theme transpired before this week’s match, with Emery holding no pre-game press conference.
But Wednesday night’s game against Coventry City seemed a deviation from the norm, energised by the opportunity to see new signings blooded and the opposition itself, who do not like their West Midlands neighbours much. In short, it felt a good time to win and for the rebuild process to continue.
Among the growing intrigue was Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ debut. The 24-year-old, akin to Donyell Malen in January 2024, had signed for Villa following prolonged negotiations. In their respective first interviews at their new side, they each spoke excitedly about playing in the Champions League.
Both times turned out to be under a false pretence. A few days later, they each learned from Emery they had missed the cut. Both times, the initial sense of optimism was curbed as Emery delivered the news.
In Harwood-Bellis’ case, Emery reasoned that Villa, with only 23 spots to play with — two fewer than they could have, owing to not having enough club-trained players — would be better served in strengthening elsewhere. Lamare Bogarde and Boubacar Kamara, he said, could moonlight at centre-back.
With Pau Torres and Victor Lindelof, Emery’s preferred pairing at the start of the campaign, effectively the decision meant choosing between Harwood-Bellis and Tyrone Mings. The latter, Villa’s second-longest serving player, has the ear of many people at the club and is a huge presence, both on and off the pitch, with his leadership.
“In Europe, we can have 23 players and in the league not,” said Emery. “We needed to take off someone, and it was Taylor. With the injury to Pau, his time is coming.”
This was Emery following Villa’s 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend, when asked why Harwood-Bellis had not only been excluded from the Champions League squad, but was yet to feature in a Premier League one, too. Both omissions did not exactly inspire confidence in a summer addition and, clearly, both must have been difficult circumstances to enter into.
Harwood-Bellis has had to be patient since moving to Villa this summer (Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
Sources close to the situation and who have worked with the player, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have cited Harwood-Bellis’ mental resilience and professionalism. Even though his start in the Midlands has not been ideal, Harwood-Bellis’ career trajectory suggests a player who has the robustness to overcome setbacks.
Harwood-Bellis has captained every team and every level he has played at, including at Southampton and various England youth groups. Routinely, he has been identified as a leader in every environment, with those who know him describing Harwood-Bellis as being “obsessed with being the best version of himself” and asking what he can do better. Villa had similarly heard positive reports regarding his attitude. It was one of the reasons why he wanted to learn under Emery.
As negotiations continued between Villa and Southampton, Harwood-Bellis continued to train, despite the decision being taken that he would not feature in Championship matches. He shared an excellent relationship with Southampton’s head coach Tonda Eckert, who was complimentary of his behaviour, even when the club were holding out for a £30million package which Villa, for some time, were privately adamant they would not meet. In the end, an agreement was reached in a £25m deal plus a further £5m in add-ons.
Unlike other recruits who were brought in to directly replace outgoings, Harwood-Bellis sat in a slightly different category. He is not a like-for-like change for Ezri Konsa, possessing an alternative skillset, and nor should there be an expectation that he will play every week, initially anyway, especially with Lindelof performing well.
Villa sold Konsa for £51m to Arsenal. They had to put most of their subsequent budget on the front positions — bringing in Nicolas Jackson and Ibrahim Mbaye — so the budget for a centre-back, ideally, was half of Konsa.
Harwood-Bellis was a practical signing but based on sound-thinking. With one cap and one goal for England, he qualifies as homegrown, has scope for development and if all goes smoothly, potentially becomes a fully-fledged international. Villa accepted they could not get the quality or pedigree of Konsa straight away with the budget they had, so recruiting someone with the hallmarks of an Emery central defender carried logic.
Harwood-Bellis scored on his England debut against the Republic of Ireland in 2024 (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Villa sources explained that Harwood-Bellis suits Emery’s specific style, namely how he builds play in possession, drawing comparisons with Torres in relation to his ball progression. Emery and his staff discussed centre-back targets and although other candidates such as Joel Ordonez fell by the wayside for other reasons, Harwood-Bellis was deemed to fit the manager’s overarching footballing idea.
If paired together, Harwood-Bellis and Torres should be able to help Villa pass through the lines, while the club’s new goalkeeper, Zion Suzuki, can do as much and also get the team upfield by playing over the top. Out of possession, Harwood-Bellis is a wholehearted, if occasionally overly-aggressive defender, embracing duels and comfortable in defending large spaces, even if he does not have Konsa’s pace.
Against coherent transitional teams, he will have to improve operating within a high line and when isolated in tight areas, with his step pattern in one-v-one scenarios, but the raw defensive materials are promising.
When you consider the threat from set plays — the former Manchester City academy graduate scored seven goals last season — he signalled a sensible acquisition, particularly if Villa continue to add in central defence, which is likely next summer.
It had been precisely a month since Harwood-Bellis last played a first-team game, in Southampton’s opening day defeat at Watford. If there was any sense of trepidation, Coventry did little to perturb him. If circumstances before Wednesday were far from ideal, the challenge presented during the game was far more favourable.
Thanks partly to Coventry’s general lacklustreness, Villa were comfortable in the 3-1 victory, notwithstanding an odd period in the first half where their more experienced players, Ross Barkley and Mings, were among those culpable in rousing a generally glum home crowd.
Harwood-Bellis did not have to exert himself, passing safely in a system which saw Villa return to a familiar build-up shape. Aaron Wan-Bissaka inverted from right-back, with Harwood Bellis the middle defender of a back three. He could pass sideways and short, making the joint most number of passes of any player on the pitch, alongside Barkley.
He could even have scored after heading straight at Dan Bentley in Coventry’s goal, but demonstrated early indications of adjusting to his manager’s demands, including holding a high line regardless of pressure being applied on the ball and communicating with the two midfielders in front as to who they should screen passes into.
This was the first match in a Villa career which will contain much tougher tests. But after a period of disruption it will have felt good to finally get life under Emery underway.
