Johan Manzambi Injury and Super Cup Concerns
Aston Villa will be without club-record signing Johan Manzambi for the UEFA Super Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain, and he may not be the only key absentee by the time the game is played in Salzburg on 12 August.
Johan Manzambi is continuing his recovery from a knee injury picked up playing for Switzerland at this summer’s World Cup. There is no fixed return date, though The Athletic reports he is working with knee specialist Jurdan Mendiguchia in Spain, and the club’s hope is that his absence is measured in “weeks, rather than several months”.
Either way, next week’s Super Cup comes too soon, as it seems the start of the Premier League season will do too. Villa will certainly hope it doesn’t mirror the situation with Stewart Downing, signed from Middlesbrough in July 2009 while on crutches with a broken bone in his foot, who didn’t play for Villa until November.
It denies Villa their record signing for a game that carries real historical weight. Villa have never lost a European final: the 1982 European Cup, the Super Cup that followed it against Barcelona, won 3-1 over two legs, and this summer’s Europa League triumph in Istanbul.
Unai Emery’s own record in this specific fixture reads rather differently. Across three separate attempts as a manager, he has never won a Super Cup, and he missed out on an additional attempt, when he left Sevilla for Paris Saint-Germain having just won a third Europa League with the Spanish club.
World Cup Returnee Problem
Manzambi may not be the only key player unavailable for the PSG clash. Ollie Watkins and Ezri Konsa have not yet returned to training, both currently on the three-week minimum break, as per FIFA guidelines for players after their country’s final World Cup match. On that timeline, both are scheduled back on 8 August. Emiliano Martínez follows a day later, on 9 August, having carried the heaviest workload of any Premier League player all summer: all 810 minutes of Argentina’s run to the final.
Their returns are complicated by Villa’s own pre-season tour of Asia, which finishes against Bayern Munich at the Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong on the Friday. The squad will then be travelling back to England across the same weekend their remaining World Cup contingent is due to return.
In practice, that leaves the returning players two or three days of training before a Champions League-level European final. Throwing any of them straight back into a starting XI after a lay-off of that length would be a significant risk (from both a performance and injury viewpoint), and not one Emery is likely to take lightly.
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PSG’s Own Issues
Villa are not alone in that problem. PSG have their own contingent of World Cup players working to the same three-week rule. Fabián Ruiz, part of Spain’s winning squad, is not due back until 9 August, the same date as Martínez. Ousmane Dembélé, Bradley Barcola, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Désiré Doué and Lucas Hernández, all part of France’s tournament, are scheduled to return a day earlier, on 8 August. Luis Enrique hasn’t had quite the rebuild job Emery has, though, so he will at least have a more familiar first XI.
Villa’s Fresh Injury Concerns
Captain John McGinn adds to the uncertainty Villa face. He went off with a knee injury during Tuesday’s 3-1 friendly win over BG Pathum in Thailand, a game Villa were already light for: Tyrone Mings sat out with his minutes being managed, Ross Barkley didn’t feature, and Tammy Abraham was an unused substitute. McGinn could have simply withdrawn as a precaution, but the full picture is uncertain. Alejandro Garnacho was also forced off in the same match with a facial injury, though that one is not considered serious and he should be fine for next week.
Teenage Cavalry
The question marks over availability up front could open the door for Brian Madjo, who has played a part in every one of Villa’s pre-season games. The 17-year-old’s registration case was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport this week, clearing him to play for Villa for the first time, with the prospect of his competitive debut being in a Super Cup final against PSG.
Villa’s record in these European finals says they should fear nobody, but the teamsheet for 12 August may tell a different story.
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