Aston Villa midfielder Johan Manzambi is reportedly set to miss the UEFA Super Cup encounter with Paris Saint-Germain in Salzburg on August 12.
The 20-year-old was signed by the club earlier this summer after impressing for both Freiburg and Switzerland, and there is real excitement over what he will bring to the team as he looks to help fill the void left behind by Morgan Rogers.
However, we’ll have to wait for our first look at him as after suffering an injury at the World Cup, the Swiss international won’t be ready until after the Super Cup clash with PSG in just over a week’s time.
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According to The Athletic, Manzambi is still recovering from that knee injury he sustained in the USA, while it’s added that Villa are said to be impressed with his attitude and approach to his rehabilitation as he looks to join up with the Villa squad as soon as possible.
It’s not ideal as he would undoubtedly have benefitted from playing in pre-season to adjust and adapt to the demands of Unai Emery and to build an understanding and chemistry with his new teammates, but ultimately it’s critical that he makes a full recovery from this injury issue, and comes back at 100 percent to start his Villa career.
Villa begin our Premier League campaign on August 23 with a trip to Brighton, while there are two more pre-season games remaining either side of our meeting with PSG, with the trip to Borussia Monchengladbach perhaps coming too soon for Manzambi too given it’s just three days after our bid to win silverware in Austria.
In turn, that likely puts his participation against Brighton in doubt too unless the medical staff and Emery feel as though he’s ready to be named on the bench, but it’s unlikely any risks will be taken in rushing him back and so he’ll hope to avoid missing too much time at the start of the new season.