Could Aston Villa’s Jonathan Kodjia realistically return in time for playoffs?

Jonathan Kodjia made a pleasant return to the Villa training ground recently. The Ivorian took part in a closed-doors friendly on Tuesday, playing 45 minutes.

Jonathan Kodjia has been on the mend since breaking down while on international duty in November. His fractured ankle, the same he injured at the tail-end of last season, is getting better after featuring in a training friendly on Tuesday.

Kodjia played 45 minutes alongside André Green, who himself is nearing a return after a hamstring strain.

But I pivot back to Kodjia, for the moment. Aston Villa, and Steve Bruce in particular, remain non-committal when it comes to nailing down a return for their talismanic striker. In fact, for much of the season they have pretty much given zero indication that he would return at all. In part, because injuries vary from person to person and situation to situation – thus making them difficult to prognosticate that far out. Secondly, this is a second serious occurrence after arguably being rushed back into action. He was certainly rushed back too quickly into international duty (Thanks, Ivory Coast. Steve Bruce even asked the federation to not include Kodjia that international window).

If history is any indication, then Jonathan Kodjia should return to Aston Villa before the end of the season. Let’s do some math.

Kodjia underwent ankle surgery on November 24th, 2017. The current time elapsed from surgery to time of this writing is 117 days. The original ankle fracture lasted from surgery (April 29th, 2017) to return (September 12th, 2017). The time elapsed between those dates is 136 days.

Now obviously there is a lot of noise in those numbers, and a lot more comes into play than simply time elapsed. Still, the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final is slated for Saturday, May 26th. That is more than two months and sixty-plus days away. The semi-finals do not have finalized dates, but last season both legs were played two weeks prior to the final, three days apart. With that time frame, we are looking at first legs somewhere in and around the 10th or 11th of May.

Next: What does no promotion look like?

I don’t want to be overly optimistic or unrealistic, but there is a non-zero chance Jonathan Kodjia not only returns for a potential date in the playoffs, but also the final league match or two. For now, let us tone down expectations, but man, what a potential game-changer Aston Villa could have returning for them.

The fact that he played 45 minutes in a friendly is astounding at this time in his recovery.