Mistakes will be forgiven - but Gomes cannot repeat irresponsible Brighton showing
24.08.26, 08:00 Updated 25.08.26, 12:25
Michael Plant
At least it can only get better from here. That’s the one positive from Joao Gomes’ disastrous Aston Villa debut.
A red card on your first league outing for a new club is bad enough, but lasting just 40 minutes is frankly mortifying. To compound matters, the Brazilian, who cost Villa up to £38m this summer, was also at fault for an opposition goal, and was part of a side demolished 4-0.
It doesn’t get much worse than that. In fact, his performance drew unwanted headlines claiming it may be the worst Premier League debut of all time. In reality, Gomes is only the seventh quickest debutant to be dismissed in the division’s history.
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Michael Plant Freelance reporter. Nearly a decade's experience in the media industry and a former Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool club correspondent. A Villa fan from birth, Michael was born in Birmingham but grew up in Belfast.