Aston Villa youngster Zepiqueno Redmond is not with the squad for our USA pre-season tour this week due to an injury he picked up earlier this month.
The 19-year-old arrived on a free transfer at the start of the month after his contract at Feyenoord expired, and he was pictured during our early pre-season work at Bodymoor Heath.
READ MORE: Injured Villa duo miss out on USA pre-season tour in disappointing blow
While it’s still unclear at this stage if Villa intend to keep him at the club this year to continue his development in-house or move him out on loan for the upcoming campaign, it would have been ideal to see him integrate and adapt to Unai Emery’s demands this summer.
However, he hasn’t featured thus far and hasn’t been seen as part of the travelling squad currently in the USA, with The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell reporting that the Dutch striker has been ruled out for a few weeks after sustaining an injury setback.
It’s hoped that he isn’t sidelined for much longer beyond that, but that is likely to prevent him from featuring in pre-season for us, and so time will tell what decision the club makes on his more immediate future.
Albeit he’s still raw and inexperienced, Redmond evidently caught the eye of Villa’s recruitment team this summer and he’s capable of offering us a different attacking dynamic in the final third with his physical attributes and eye for goal as he can certainly give us a focal point up front.
It remains to be seen if he’ll get the opportunity to work with Emery and his coaching staff to provide depth behind Ollie Watkins this season, or if the more sensible option is to loan him out at a high level and allow him to gain valuable experience and to develop his all-round game further.
For now though, the focus will be on his recovery and rehabilitation, and we’ll ultimately have to wait and see if he’s part of the first-team squad this season or not.
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