Aston Villa February 2018 Loan Report: Suliman struggles for minutes
By Josh Tonti
Hopefully a new monthly edition to the site! We will do our best to update on Aston Villa’s contingent of loaned-out players across the globe.
Let’s get down to it – a February round-up of Aston Villa’s loaned out players. Missing someone? Shoot us a tweet. From the outside looking in, it appears to be a poor month for most of Villa’s out-on-loan players.
GK – Pierluigi Gollini, 22, (Atalanta)
Made one start in Serie A on the 18th of February in a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina. He’s made six appearances on the season across all competitions with Albania #1 Etrit Berisha preferred. Atalanta crashed out of the Europa League Round-of-32 to Borussia Dortmund two weeks ago, so less matches coming up.
CB – Tommy Elphick, 30, (Reading)
Still out after suffering a knee injury. Luckily, most of Elphick’s ligaments survived damage and he’s getting closer to a return.
CB – Easah Suliman, 20, (Grimsby Town)
Two consecutive years of League Two loans for Easah Suliman. This one is not going nearly as well as the one with Cheltenham Town went. Suliman has yet to feature for the club despite the team sitting one point above the drop zone. Eventually Suliman will have to start playing first team minutes with someone because consecutive League Two loans means he should be at least playing, if not bossing, the fourth division.
RB – Ritchie De Laet, 29, (Royal Antwerp)
Went the full 90 minutes three times for Royal Antwerp in February. Unfortunately, the former Belgium international’s club suffered two defeats and a draw in those matches.
CM – Gary Gardner, 25, (Barnsley)
Gary Gardner went the distance in 4/5 Tykes’ matches in February with one assist.
CM – Aaron Tshibola 23, (Kilmarnock)
Tshibola made five appearances (3 starts) with Scottish side Kilmarnock. Both he and the club enjoyed a solid month of action.
AM – Carles Gil, 25, (Deportivo La Coruña)
Made one start for the Spanish side back on the 2nd of February. Gil was withdrawn after 55 minutes as Depor got hammered by Real Sociedad 5-0.