Aston Villa midfielder Birkir Bjarnason underwent surgery on groin injury
By Josh Tonti
Aston Villa Football Club will be without the services of Birkir Bjarnason for an undetermined amount of time. The Icelandic international underwent surgery for an injured groin muscle on Wednesday.
The injury front gets worse and worse for Aston Villa. Amidst several knocks to key players over the international break, the worst, in terms of severity, has been announced.
Villa midfielder Birkir Bjarnason underwent surgery for a groin problem that flared-up over the break. The Iceland international announced the procedure’s success on his Instagram account:
Villa Verdict:
It’s yet to be announced how long Bjarnason might be out. Aston Villa has not officially commented on the procedure, which is a little strange. Given the poor timing mid-season, it’s not out of the question that Bjarnason misses a large swath of the remaining season. André Green missed multiple months last year for a similar procedure.
Bjarnason’s absence for the Second City Derby creates more uncertainty in central midfield as John McGinn is carrying a calf problem as well. Villa labeled him 50/50 for the match.
In the following weeks, someone in Dean Smith’s squad will have to pick-up Bjarnason’s role in the team as a rotating defensive/central midfielder. The good thing for Smith is that he is not exactly hurting for options.
We’ll see more Glenn Whelan in the interim while Conor Hourihane has an assured spot in the starting XI with Birkir out. A spot on the Villa bench for Henri Lansbury and/or Callum O’Hare/Jake Doyle-Hayes opens up as well. Losing the player is undoubtedly a net loss, but Aston Villa is set-up well to replace his production, granted everyone else stays fit and healthy of course.
Get well soon, Birkir!