Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has revealed that he hopes to have Diego Carlos back in group training next week after his hamstring injury.
The 30-year-old hasn’t featured since he was forced off in the first half of our defeat to Liverpool earlier this month, as he has missed our last two outings.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Legia Warsaw: Key quartet poor in disappointing defeat
Having shared a social media post last week showing that he was back on the bike in the Bodymoor Heath gym, it had been hoped that he was closing in on a return sooner rather than later, but his absence has continued.
As per the Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell though, Emery revealed after our defeat to Legia Warsaw in our Europa Conference League opener on Thursday evening that he hopes the Brazilian centre-half will be back training with the rest of the squad within the next week.
In turn, while that rules him out of facing Chelsea on Sunday, it’s hoped that he can be available for selection against Everton in the Carabao Cup, or at least against Brighton on September 30 to bolster our defensive options.
Emery opted to rotate against Legia in our 3-2 loss, with Calum Chambers and Clement Lenglet coming in to start. Neither delivered the level of performance that the Villa boss would have hoped to see from them, and so that ultimately reinforced the need for Carlos to return to full fitness sooner rather than later.
That in turn gives us the option of him either partnering Ezri Konsa or Pau Torres in the middle, or Konsa shifting across to right-back and all three starting, so it’s an important solution that Emery would undoubtedly like to have at his disposal and it’s hoped that Carlos can step up his recovery and return to the fold next week.
