Aston Villa defender Andres Garcia has been called up by Spain to represent the U21s at the European Championship this summer.
The 22-year-old joined us from Levante in January, and went on to make 10 appearances as he looks set for an important role in Unai Emery’s plans moving forward.
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Having initially been included in 26-man squad for Spain U21s for this summer’s tournament, Garcia thought his chances of representing his country in the showpiece competition were over having failed to make the final cut.
However, as confirmed by the RFEF, he has now rejoined the squad after Yeremay Hernandez suffered an injury, and so he’ll join up with his teammates and head to Slovakia this month to take part in the U21s European Championship.
Given he played a limited role for Villa in the second half of the campaign, the opportunity to play and feature in a big tournament will undoubtedly be a great experience for him to continue to improve and develop his game.
It’s unclear how Emery will prioritise his right-back options next season, as Matty Cash remains first-choice as things stand, while Kosta Nedeljkovic and Kaine Kesler-Hayden will return from loan spells.
The expectation is that the latter duo could be sold on a permanent basis if the interest is there, thus giving Garcia the opportunity to continue to put pressure on Cash and provide competition in that position as our second-choice option, with Villa looking to compete on multiple fronts again next season.
It could be argued that he was underused last year having impressed for the most part when featuring in the side, but it will hopefully act as a solid foundation as part of his adaptation process to now push on and gain more minutes in the new campaign.
In the more immediate future though, it’s hoped that Garcia gets significant playing time this summer and reports for pre-season duty an improved player compared to the one that left Bodymoor Heath at the end of last season, as a positive tournament experience can certainly help his confidence and belief in his own ability to kick on and take that next step at club level too.
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