Donyell Malen has been told that Aston Villa never had ‘a plan for him from the beginning’ as he continues to enjoy a fresh start at Roma.The Dutchman, who left Villa Park to join the Giallorossi in January, has already scored five goals in as many games for his new team.Gasperini hailed Malen as the ideal striker for RomaGettyThe 27-year-old has become the first player to score at least five in his first five Serie A matches for Roma since Gabriel Batistuta in 2000.Malen’s tally in Italy is already one more goal than he managed across 21 Premier League appearances for Villa in the first half of the season.However, the attacker only started five top-flight games for Unai Emery this term, and didn’t complete a full 90-minutes once.Malen makes record start at RomaRoma boss Gian Piero Gasperini has revealed he convinced Malen to join the club by promising to play him in his favoured striker position.“I think Serie A is more difficult than other leagues, especially for strikers. I’m convinced he can be decisive in that role,” Gasperini said.“He played for Aston Villa and the national team. The way I convinced him to come and play for Roma was by telling him, ‘You’ll play.’ “He often ended up on the wing, but for me, he’s a striker, and he wanted this. A striker doesn’t have to be 1,90m tall.”Malen, tellingly, is less than 180cm tall, while his Villa replacement, Tammy Abraham, stands at 1.94m and has already won the same amount of aerial duels in the Premier League in 17 fewer appearances.Yet, European football expert Andy Brassell argued that the Netherlands international has a right to feel short-changed by Emery.Malen was often used off the bench by EmeryGettyAston Villa ‘off on the wrong foot’Much was expected of Malen when he completed a £22million switch from Borussia Dortmund in the middle of the 2025 winter window.But Villa then brought in Axel Disasi, Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford on loan before the deadline, and left the now-Roma star out of their squad for the Champions League knockout phase.Brassell told talkSPORT.com: “In terms of Malen getting a fair rattle at Villa, he never did, did he?“You go back to the beginning when this guy, who’s a good Champions League player already turns up at Villa and thinks, ‘OkayI’m joining another Champions League club in England, this will be great, and then they sign Rashford and Asensio.“Two loan players, albeit two very accomplished loan players of course and all of a sudden he’s not in the Champions League squad, so he’s off on the wrong foot already, or they’re off on the wrong foot with him.The double January swoop ended Malen’s Champions League hopes with VillaGetty“As I’ve said before, if I were Malen, I would have been furious about that,” Brassell continued.“And I probably would have been furious at my agent for letting me walk into that situation because he’s almost damned by his versatility.“He’s someone who can perform a number of different roles in the front line and even really play as a wide midfielder, and he gets through his running off the ball as well.“That sort of stopped him from making his own furrow in this Villa team. So I’m a little bit disappointed from Villa’s perspective that once Rashford and Asensio went, he didn’t get more minutes, and he didn’t get more of a big role this season. “Now, I guess because Ollie Watkins is and continues to be important for them. That’s understandable.Malen scored three goals in four Europa League starts this seasonGettyHe is now flourishing as Roma’s main manGetty“I think you look at the fact that they’ve brought in Tammy Abraham, who’s a different profile of striker who can offer something different to Ollie Watkins, which I think is very important to have different profiles in your squad. “But it always seems like it was never fated to work with Villa and Malen.“If you look at the numbers, if you look at the games, he never let them down or anything like that.“But it just felt like they didn’t really have a plan for him from the beginning. I refuse to believe that they bought him and thought he’s not going to be in the Champions League squad. “They bought him, there are other market opportunities, and then he kind of went to the back of their minds.”