Rudy Gestede opened his Aston Villa account with a climbing header against Bournemouth and Josh Smith believes the imposing striker can be a big hit at Villa Park.
A winning goal on the opening day of the season is the perfect tonic for any new recruit to endear himself to the fans. In Gestede, Villa appear to have a solid forward on their hands – one who provides a plan B for manager Tim Sherwood.
It was obvious in the first half of the Bournemouth game that Villa wanted to play a passing game and utilise the pace of both club captain Gabby Agbonlahor and new signing Jordan Ayew. When that did not work out, despite an improved second half performance, Gestede was brought on in the 59th minute and just 11 minutes later provided the all important goal from an Ashley Westwood corner.
The Frenchman is far from Christian Benteke’s replacement, but he will go a long way to filling the void left by arguably Villa’s best ever Premier League striker.
In the second-tier of English football with Blackburn Rovers, the frontman managed an impressive 35 goals in 73 games – nothing to be sniffed at.
However, he did struggle at Cardiff City where he managed just seven goals in 55 appearances, with three of those games in the top-flight.
Gestede is a mixed bag, who has received his fair share of both praise and criticism. For Villa fans they will be desperate to express the former and hope that he exemplifies the type of form that saw him score 20 goals in 39 Championship games for Blackburn last term.
He has basically the same physical frame as Benteke and his goalscoring output is not too dissimilar to the Belgium star’s. However, the Villains have relinquished a fine penalty and free-kick taker – something which Gestede is noted for.
Despite other deficiencies like his turn of pace and technical ability when compared to the departed Benteke, the 26-year-old does possess superb aerial ability and can hold up the ball expertly.
Sherwood needed another avenue to goal and Gestede can certainly feed Villa’s pacey attackers like Ayew, Agbonglahor, Jack Grealish and Scott Sinclair into the game.
It may be far too early to judge Gestede just yet, but he has the qualities and Sherwood has the tactical flexibility to accentuate the striker’s attributes.
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Gestede could be seen by many as a ‘one trick pony’ – a player who you simply lump the ball up to win headers – but Gestede will be determined to show he’s got more tricks in his game.
Whether he can produce the goods with the ball at his feet remains to be seen, however, with Manchester United on a Friday evening at Villa Park next in his sights, it presents Gestede will the perfect opportunity to showcase his talents.
The Red Devils have made a disturbing habit of struggling against strong centre-forwards and the 193cm Benin international will fancy his chances of causing the visitors’ defence headaches.
Villa fans have grown accustomed to a big targetman leading the line over the years. John Carew and Benteke made a knack of bullying defenders and in Gestede they will be hoping for more of the same.
With shaggy afro hair and a goal under his belt already Gestede has what it takes to become a cult hero at Villa Park.
How he fares against United will be an intriguing sub-plot to an engrossing Friday night encounter.
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