Villa Not in Ideal Shape Ahead of Season Opener
It’s been a rough old summer in terms of Aston Villa’s injury list. Wednesday night’s Super Cup claimed its latest two victims. Brian Madjo picked up a knock in the very match he’d spent seven months waiting to play in. João Gomes, barely a month into his Villa career, and a rare expected first XI starter to have had a full pre-season, has gone down to the Villa midfield injury curse. Between them, as reported by The Athletic, Villa now face the start of the season without two players who were meant to be part of the solution, not another headache.
While no specifics have been given in terms of how long Villa will miss them, both are expected to be out somewhere between two and four weeks.
World Cup Inconvenience
This was always going to be an awkward preseason for Villa: a World Cup summer, a loss of key players, a squad still being rebuilt, and a Super Cup final to somehow fit in. Add in the loss of Amadou Onana to an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained playing for Belgium at the World Cup, and Villa went into the new season already down a first-choice midfielder before a ball was kicked competitively.
Replacing Onana hasn’t been straightforward either. A loan move for Bayern Munich’s João Palhinha has been mooted, but Bayern want a permanent sale rather than a loan, and there’s been no sign of them changing their stance at the moment.
Then there’s Johan Manzambi, signed this summer while still carrying an injury picked up at the World Cup with Switzerland and, of the whole squad, arguably the player who stood to gain the most from a normal preseason. Instead he’s had none of it.
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Emery Trade Off
Unai Emery’s own selection calls have added to the picture. Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martínez and Ezri Konsa were all given an extra week off on top of FIFA’s recommended three-week minimum rest period, meaning none of the three will have had a single preseason minute before the Premier League campaign starts.
Emery has been open about the trade-off: asked before the Super Cup whether it cost Villa in Salzburg, he admitted as much. “Of course, if they were here, maybe we will have many more chances,” he reflected.
It wasn’t only about the Super Cup, either. For example, Watkins coming off the bench as a second-half substitute wouldn’t just have been useful chasing the game against PSG, it would also have banked him minutes ahead of the season opener. Emery chose to prioritise Watkins’ long-term freshness over both.
A spirited performance from Villa’s makeshift side in the Super Cup certainly lifted spirits on the night, but the two injuries picked up in the game have only added to the sense that Villa are not in the best shape heading into the season opener against Brighton & Hove Albion.
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