Aston Villa have reportedly been dealt a double injury blow as both Joao Gomes and Brian Madjo are expected to miss the start of the season.
The pair have both featured heavily across pre-season, but it appears as though they both picked up problems during our defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in midweek or the days that have followed in training.
Unai Emery would have been hoping for as close to a fully-fit squad as possible being available to him for the start of the new campaign, but he’ll be bitterly disappointed over this latest development.
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As per The Athletic, Gomes suffered a calf strain and is now expected to miss between two and four weeks, while Madjo could be ruled out of action until at least September.
It’s added that further scans will determine the severity of the issues and perhaps give a clearer indication on recovery time, but it’s a huge blow to close the pair given how influential and impressive they’ve both been during the summer.
While the absence of Madjo will be easier to deal with given Ollie Watkins will hopefully be ready to face Brighton in our Premier League season opener next weekend, Emery will likely have a bigger selection headache when it comes to replacing Gomes in his preferred starting line-up.
Boubacar Kamara will no doubt start having recovered from his own injury setback earlier in the year, but Emery will likely now have to lean on one of Victor Lindelof, Lamare Bogarde or Ross Barkley to partner him if it is indeed confirmed that Gomes won’t be able to feature.
While it is of course never a good time to pick up an injury, this is such a disappointing blow for the pair in question as it will now disrupt their start to the season and it may well take them time to catch up and get back up to speed before they feature.
In turn, it’s hoped that the scans are positive and that perhaps they won’t be out of action for as long as initially suggested, but Villa will also hope that there aren’t any further blows in the coming days and weeks.