Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that John McGinn will be absent for another two to three weeks after suffering a hamstring injury.
The Villa skipper sustained the setback during our win over Wolves last weekend, as he was replaced at half-time after looking in significant discomfort prior to the break.
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Unfortunately, the 29-year-old now faces a spell on the sidelines as he recovers, and he will likely miss some big games in the upcoming fortnight, which is a major blow for Emery given how important he is to how we play in both phases of the game.
Speaking ahead of our clash with Ipswich Town this weekend, Emery provided an update on McGinn which included a timeline on his recovery, while he also delivered an assessment of his season thus far as he’ll look to return next month and try to hit top form in what is a huge season for us this year.
“He’s been out for one week and I think he will now be out for two or three weeks more,” Emery said of McGinn, as per BirminghamLive. “Our expectation is that he will be out for three or four weeks altogether.”
“When someone is injured it is not good for the players and for us. But analysing his performances before he was injured he needed to improve and increase his performance levels. We were working with him on his focus.
“Now he is injured we must stay calm and work to recover as soon as possible – and hopefully we can work on the things he was not doing like he has been doing for the last two years. Trying to fit better into the system and getting better performances from him and the team when he comes back.”
McGinn is expected to miss games against Ipswich, Bayern Munich, Man Utd, Fulham and perhaps even Bologna and Bournemouth before he’s back in contention, as Villa will naturally not want to risk rushing him back given the nature of the injury, as if he were to aggravate the problem, it could extend his time on the treatment table.
Leon Bailey will likely fill that void on the right side of our attack having returned from a hamstring injury of his own last week, while Villa have other options including the likes of Emiliano Buendia and Jaden Philogene if required.
That said, McGinn helped build an important balance in the side with his work ethic and defensive qualities, and so Emery will need to find the best solution that ensures we maintain that, and hopefully even raise our level while the Scottish international continues to recover.
Nevertheless, he’ll be a big boost on his return as we look to compete on multiple fronts this season, and so it’s hoped that the timeline touted above by Emery proves to be accurate, and that he doesn’t suffer any further setbacks in the coming weeks.