Eric Bailly’s nightmare season is showing no sign of ending with the former Manchester United defender on the wrong end of a 4-0 UEFA Europa League hammering at the hands of Marseille.
While one former Premier League ace proved that there is still plenty of oil left in the tank – ex-Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang maintaining his remarkable European run with a brace at the Stade Velodrome – it’s fair to say a defender let go by Manchester United in September will not look back on his return to French soil with too much fondness.
Eric Bailly spent last season on loan at Marseille, the Ligue 1 giants eventually deciding against triggering the option-to-buy clause in his contract.
And the Ivorian’s performance during Villarreal’s error-strewn 4-0 defeat will have done little to convince the home support that Bailly would have been worth keeping around, Jean-Louis Gasset’s side racing into a commanding lead inside the hour as Bailly and Wolves loanee Yerson Mosquera endured a horrifying evening up against the evergreen Aubameyang.
Disaster season for ex-Manchester United man
“It was a very bad first half in which we didn’t do anything well except for the first ten minutes,” sighs Pepe Reina, another experienced campaigner featuring in a clash chock-full of former Englush football favourites.
“Things are very bad.”
“We made a lot of mistakes,” adds head coach Marcelino Garcia Toral. “We made big mistakes against the worst rival.”
And thus continues Eric Bailly’s very own annus horribilis.
Once a £30 million signing for Manchester United during the Jose Mourinho era, Bailly returned for a second spell at Villarreal after a disastrous stint at Turkish giants Besiktas during the first half of the campaign.
But after only seven appearances back on the Castellon coast – Villarreal conceding 2.3 goals per game on average every time Bailly appears in La Liga and in the Europa League – those who questioned the decision to bring the prodigal son home will have only hardened their stance as Marseille tore through Marcelino’s defence like wet tissue paper.
Marseille hammer Villarreal in Europa League
“If you look at that Villarreal squad, it’s old. It’s aged,” La Liga expert David Cartlidge tells the On The Continent podcast.
“And there was a point in the summer when (former manager) Quique Setien kind of said; ‘We need to move on here from what we have. This is an ageing squad. I need players to carry out my style. Can you bring them in?’
“Villarreal stalled. They decided to keep the older heads around. There’s a red flag there. Setien was gone soon after saying you’re going to have massive problems down the line.
“And here we are now with Villarreal in serious, serious trouble. (They have) an old squad, with players who should have been moved on a while ago.
“And to make matters worse, they brought Eric Bailly back which is just another red flag.”
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