Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that Jacob Ramsey will miss the second leg of our Europa Conference League round-of-16 tie vs Ajax.
The 22-year-old was forced off after just 29 minutes in our win over Luton Town on March 2, and he subsequently missed the first leg in Amsterdam last week before sitting out the defeat to Tottenham at the weekend too.
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It had been hoped based on previous comments from Emery that the Villa ace would be back in training this week and thus in contention to face both Ajax and West Ham Utd, but the Villa boss has now confirmed that he will play no part against the Dutch giants.
“He is still not available, but hopefully not for a long time,” Emery told the media in his pre-match press conference. “We are going to wait every day to see how he is feeling but he will not be available tomorrow.”
Ramsey has been limited to 21 appearances so far this season, scoring one goal and providing two assists, as he was sidelined by a foot injury at the start of the campaign before it flared up again shortly after.
Having clutched his foot at Luton, there was concern that he had re-aggravated the issue once again, but based on Emery’s comments above, it doesn’t sound as though he’s expected to be ruled out for as long this time round.
Still, given the quality, energy and balance that he helps bring to the Villa XI, his absence is a blow as we’ll need two big results this week to get ourselves back on track after a heavy defeat to Spurs, with our top-four ambitions and silverware on the line.
Particularly with Boubacar Kamara ruled out with a long-term injury and John McGinn now being suspended for three Premier League games after his dismissal on Sunday, Emery will need as many options as he can get in midfield, and so the hope now is that Ramsey will be able to work his way back into contention on Sunday when we travel to West Ham.
