Aston Villa defender Diego Carlos has provided the latest news on his availability ahead of our Premier League season opener against Newcastle Utd on Saturday.
The 30-year-old wasn’t included in the squad that travelled to Valencia at the weekend for our final pre-season game, and that in turn sparked talk of a potential setback on the eve of the new campaign.
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Reports suggested that Carlos had picked up a knock in training, while the player himself took to social media to confirm that it wasn’t anything serious and his target was to be available for selection this coming weekend.
While the likelihood of him starting at St James’ Park is low anyway, with Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres arguably all ahead of him in the pecking order, it’s important that we have as close to a fully-fit squad available in the early part of the season given how hectic the schedule will become.
In turn, it was reassuring to see the Brazilian centre-half provide another update on his condition on Tuesday night as seen in the tweet below, as he confirmed that he’s hopeful of being at Unai Emery’s disposal in our upcoming games and he’s continuing to work tirelessly to ensure he’s in top condition.
Time will tell if he makes the trip to Tyneside as Villa look to make a positive start to the new campaign in a difficult first game, but with further Premier League encounters to come this month coupled with our Europa Conference League play-off round at the end of August, it’s hoped that we have all four of our top-class centre-back options available for selection throughout.
Emery showed this summer that he will be flexible and versatile tactically with the option to play Konsa at right-back or Torres at left-back at times, and so those scenarios certainly open the door for Carlos to stake a claim for a starting berth in the coming months.
Fresh update from Diego Carlos on his availability ahead of season opener…#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/BFMas3B6Ew
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) August 8, 2023
