Aston Villa have received a huge boost as three previously injured players have returned to training.
Pau Torres, Leon Goretzka and Brian Madjo all trained with Villa’s first team as their midseason training camp in Spain got underway.
Torres has been out since picking up a hamstring injury in the 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on September 12th, leaving Tyrone Mings to deputize in defense. The Spanish centre-back is a key part of how Unai Emery’s side build from the back, so his return will be extremely welcome.
Goretzka is yet to play a single minute for Villa or even take a place on the bench since signing as a free agent back in August after sustaining a knee injury in training.
He announced the injury on his Instagram account and seemed to imply he would return after the international break, which now looks set to be the case as he is back in training.
Madjo has also been unable to participate in any of Villa’s games so far this season after limping off during the UEFA Super Cup.
That game had served as his coming out party following a strong preseason, as the 17-year-old scored Villa’s only goal and caused PSGs defence all kinds of problems.
Since the injury, Villa sold Ollie Watkins and replaced him with Nicolas Jackson, who has got off to a strong start and entrenched himself as first choice to lead the line.
Given he was handed the start against PSG, it seemed Madjo was ahead of Tammy Abraham in the pecking order, and Abraham could have left in the summer but turned down a move to Ipswich Town.
It will be interesting to see if when fit, Madjo replaces Abraham on the bench or whether Abraham has done enough to convince Emery he should be involved.
Villa play Sevilla in a friendly on Friday, and Emery’s team selection will provide some insight regarding how far along Torres, Goretzka and Madjo are in their ramp-up period as they look to get back on the pitch.
Their next competitive match does not come until October 10th at home to Brentford, giving the trio plenty of time to build up their fitness and get into contention to feature in that game.
Injuries have made an already difficult start to the season even more of a challenge for Villa, but reinforcements are coming and soon their squad could look very deep from back to front.
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