Aston Villa boss Unai Emery gave nothing away as he conceded that he doesn’t know when Jacob Ramsey will return from his latest injury setback.
The 22-year-old has been limited to just 21 appearances across all competitions so far this season, scoring one goal and providing two assists in those outings.
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A foot injury that he sustained over the summer ensured he missed the start of the campaign, and a recurrence of the issue just weeks later sidelined him again for a significant period.
Having limped off after just 29 minutes against Luton Town on March 2, Ramsey’s frustrating year has continued as he has been absent for our last two Premier League games and missed our Europa Conference League round-of-16 tie against Ajax.
While Emery previously suggested that he could have been back in contention last week by returning to training at least, Ramsey has failed to make the squad since, and now the Villa boss hasn’t been able to provide an update.
As per The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell, Emery was asked for the latest on Ramsey following our draw with West Ham Utd on Sunday, to which he responded that he didn’t know. That in turn will raise concern about how long this latest injury setback could rule him out for.
Given the lack of a consistent run in the side this season, we haven’t seen the Villa midfielder reach the same level he was showing last season under Emery.
Nevertheless, he remains a crucial option for the Spaniard given his ability to not only add an important attacking dynamic with his goal threat and creativity, but with his energy and work ethic, he provides us with a fundamental balance in the Villa XI which makes us a more effective unit in both phases of the game.
We’ve gone with different options on that left side without him, with Morgan Rogers the latest to get the nod to fill that void, but it’s hoped that with the international break now upon us, Ramsey can use this two-week period to receive treatment, resume group training and put himself in contention to feature against Wolves on March 30.