Keeping Up With Keinan: An In-Depth Look at Aston Villa's Promising New Striker

Aston Villa's 3-0 victory against Barnsley was significant for a number of reasons, and saw several noteworthy events take place for the first time. They

Aston Villa's 3-0 victory against Barnsley was significant for a number of reasons, and saw several noteworthy events take place for the first time.

They include: Jonathan Kodjia's first start of the season, Villa's first away win of the campaign (and first since March last year) and the first time the club have scored three goals in an away match since March 2015.

Yet arguably, the most significant occurrence from Villa's trip to Oakwell, was Keinan Davis scoring his first goal for the Midlands club.

GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! Keinan Davis! 3-0!!!!#PartOfThePride #AVFC pic.twitter.com/fLfqWUTMgW

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) September 16, 2017

The 19-year-old scored a superb header in the 55th minute of the game, which was well deserved after his Man of the Match performance.

Davis is beginning to assert himself as regular in Steve Bruce's starting XI and is even keeping £12m Scott Hogan out of the side.

The striker's main assets are his excellent hold up play, aerial ability and persistent work rate.

In this tiki-taka era of football, Davis is a throwback to an Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand or Dion Dublin-style striker.

Image by Michael Plant

Even more encouragingly for Villa fans, Davis showed his ability with the ball at his feet against Barnsley and often found the half yard required to get a shot against Adam Davies' goal.

During Davis' first few games in a claret and blue shirt, his touch was often heavy and at times he slowed down potential attacks.

Therefore, Saturday's display, where Davis was at the heart of Villa's attacks and often linked the play, will only enhance his reputation at Villa Park.

It is still early days in the Villa youth graduate's career, but Davis has made an encouraging start.

Delighted to get my first goal for @AVFCOfficial , important 3 points also , fans were incredible 👌🏾⚽️#AVFC #GW pic.twitter.com/B9XUmxpI4S

— Keinan (@Keinan) September 16, 2017

Yet, he is far from the finished article, and more talented youth players have gone on to achieve precious little in the game, so Davis must continue to work hard on the training ground.

The youngster's physical aspects are superb, so now Davis must focus on improving the more technical side of his game, if he is to become a Premier League-level striker.

Rather than becoming bogged down by the hype generated by the media and Villa fans over the past few weeks, Davis should focus simply on maintaining the level of performance he has shown so far this season and ensuring he keeps his place in the starting XI.

Given time, patience and hard work, Davis could prove to be a star of the future and an important part of Villa's promotion push this season.