Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana reportedly suffered a ruptured ACL during Belgium’s win over the USA in the World Cup on Monday night.
The 24-year-old immediately signalled to the bench that he felt it was a serious issue after sustaining the problem in the 19th minute of the game, and he was subsequently replaced before being seen with a knee brace on and using crutches on the sidelines.
Belgium boss Rudi Garcia feared that it was a serious injury as he spoke to the media after the encounter, and now reports suggest that those fears were warranted as Onana is looking at a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
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As per The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Onana suffered a ruptured ACL and will now begin his recovery and rehabilitation with the expectation that he will be sidelined for some time.
Further, he adds that our midfield was not an area in which we were planning on making any changes in this summer, but naturally given the severity of the setback for Onana, Villa could now be forced to address that in the coming weeks and ensure that we have enough competition and depth in that position.
First and foremost, it’s a devastating blow for Onana. He has struggled with injuries during his time with us already, and so to now have a serious blow to recover from whilst playing in the World Cup and advancing to the quarter-finals, it will be a huge setback for him personally.
It’s hoped that he can make a speedy and full recovery, and time will tell when he is able to return to action.
However, from a Villa perspective, it certainly does complicate our planning now as although Boubacar Kamara is set to return to full fitness in time for pre-season, we’ll once again be left light in that department as Victor Lindelof was often asked to fill in last season, albeit the Swedish stalwart did a fantastic job.
It remains to be seen if Unai Emery feels as though we have enough until Onana returns, but if we can bring in a reinforcement, that would certainly help with Youri Tielemans likely to be given an extended break following the World Cup, leaving us light in that area heading into the start of the new season.
