Zion Suzuki’s performance at Tottenham gave Aston Villa the platform for their first Premier League win of the season, and the Japan goalkeeper’s contribution carried as much weight as the goals that settled the game.
Villa signed the 24-year-old from the Italian side Parma in August for a fee in the region of £30m, handing him the job of succeeding Emiliano Martinez after the Argentina number one and fan favourite left for Chelsea. His display at Spurs suggested he is more than capable of filling those very big boots.
Suzuki made two saves from Savio within seconds of each other, and enjoyed a moment of good fortune when Archie Gray’s effort clipped wide off his foot. Those interventions gave Villa the platform to ride out a spell in the game when the hosts held sway. Johan Manzambi and Nicolas Jackson were the scorers, but the goalkeeper’s work was just as important to the result.
“We needed the keeper,” Villa boss Unai Emery said afterwards. “He is a keeper to save us. To make sure in the goal he has the quality and then he has the skills to play and build up. It is very important how he is doing it and sometimes taking some risks, but through those he is improving and learning.”
One of the attractions of signing Suzuki was his assuredness with the ball at his feet and his ability to spray passes forward with very little backlift, and that quality produced Villa’s second goal. His booming ball forward from his own six-yard box dropped deep into Tottenham territory, where Jackson collected it and dispatched an unerring shot to the left corner.
“In the build up, he can choose to play long balls because he has a very long pass in behind and he did that for the second goal we scored,” Emery added.
Born in the United States to a Ghanaian father and a Japanese mother, Suzuki has already played in Japan, Belgium and Italy and has won 28 caps for his country. He was named after Mount Zion, a biblical location near Jerusalem.
Dennis Rudel, Suzuki’s former coach at Sint-Truiden, told BBC Sport in August that the goalkeeper has the attributes to become one of the best in the world in his position. “It is possible if he stays healthy,” said the former Union Berlin coach. “With his physical strength, there is no-one better in the world in terms of dynamic, jumping power, throws and kicking the ball.”
Rudel highlighted Suzuki’s mentality as his standout quality. “When I watched him at the World Cup, his biggest strength was his mental clearness. His focus on the game or in training sessions is so good. He is always prepared and really disciplined,” he said. “He is aiming to show he can be one of the best. He was immediately one of the top four or five goalkeepers in Serie A. As a person and as a player, he is a role model for how you should behave. I don’t see any weakness in him.”
He added: “He has such big hands and he is powerful. When he can reach the ball, it is a 90-95% chance of a save. It is something really special.”