Aston Villa forward Leon Bailey has welcomed the arrival of Marcus Rashford - even it means more competition for places.
Bailey, 27, has been joined in the Midlands by the Manchester United loanee to give Villa boss Unai Emery a gluttony of options in attack. Rashford wasn't the only forward who arrived in January, as they also signed Donyell Malen for £20million and loaned in Marco Asensio from Paris Saint-Germain.
Villa's increased squad depth gives them greater scope to challenge for the FA Cup and Champions League, and Bailey is excited to compete with Rashford, whose high-profile arrival has already had shaken things up off the pitch. There's been so much clamour since the United star's move that Villa have reportedly imposed a ban on journalists asking their players questions about Rashford, who can be signed permanently for £40m in the summer.
"There's always competition but that's not the most important thing," Bailey said via the Birmingham Mail. "I think the most important thing is being able to play well together.
"It doesn't matter who it is up front and I think that's the main thing that we need to consider, not the competition that's here. We know we all have talent and we are all good players and we can contribute. But, at the same time, can you contribute while playing together?
"I think that's something we've been more focused on and so far it's been working and it's good to see. When you play more with the players consistently, people get to know each other better and faster. I think it's going well so far and hopefully it can click in every moment that we need it to click."
The Jamaican winger was asked whether he felt daunted by the task of competing with Rashford, Asensio and Malen. "No, I don't think that's ever the focus," Bailey replied. "I think that's more so for the media. That's for you guys to think. But honestly, we as the players, we don't think like that.
"We're all on the same team, we all have the same objective and the same goal. For us, as I said before, it's more about gelling together, playing well together. Whoever is on the pitch, making sure that the connection is there. Because that's the only way we're going to win the game.
"Not by trying to compete with your own team-mate. We don't think like that. The main objective for us is to be able to gel well together. If it's not working for me, we know that we have somebody strong as well to be able to come on and bring a better impact.
"As I said, that's the only way we know how to do it because we want to win games. That's the only way I know."
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