Villarreal Boss Unai Emery Tells Samuel Chukwueze Where He Needs To Improve

The Villarreal youngster continued to show his improvement with another match-winning performance for the Spanish side in the Europa League on Thursday, but his boss believes more can still come from the Nigerian winger

Villarreal manager Unai Emery says he is pleased with Samuel Chukwueze’s progression so far this term. Still, the former Arsenal coach insists the Super Eagles star needs to add consistency to his game.

Chukwueze scored the only goal that helped the Yellow Submarines outgun Turkey’s Sivasspor in the Europa League on Thursday to power the La Liga club to the next round of the competition.

But the former Golden Eaglets star struggled in the early stages of that match in Turkey, having been deployed in an unfamiliar left-wing role.

However, Chukwueze became more comfortable and made his goalscoring impact felt after he switched to his more familiar right-wing role.

Emery commends Chukwueze for accepting the coaches’ tactical tweaks but wants the youngster to add more attacking plays to his game.

“We are happy with each step of his (Chukwueze’s) improvement, but we have to be demanding about it,” Emery said at his pre-match press conference as per FootballFantasy.

“So, I think he played a good game on Thursday, we tried on the left, but he can’t find himself on the left, although he accepts it and does it with goodwill. But he can’t find all the offensive phases that we want him to settle down.

“On the right-wing, he ended up scoring a goal and found himself more comfortable on his natural side, but he still has that irregularity when it comes to finding more things. We are in that process and tomorrow another opportunity, but he will need time.”

Third-placed Villarreal host Elche on Sunday, knowing a win could take them to within one point of league leaders Real Sociedad. 

Chukwueze has one goal to his name in ten La Liga matches.