Aston Villa welcomed back a whole host of players on Monday to Bodymoor Heath as they checked in to start pre-season training.
Our internationals were given an extended break this past week by Unai Emery, but with the squad expected to fly out to the USA on Wednesday for our pre-season tour, the group filled out significantly to start the new week.
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As seen in Villa’s image gallery, Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, Cameron Archer, Emi Martinez, Philippe Coutinho, Youri Tielemans, Tyrone Mings and Robin Olsen are now all back, while the likes of Pau Torres, Matty Cash, Diego Carlos and Alex Moreno were all seen in the gym too.
It will be a welcome boost for Emery and his coaching staff to now have an almost full squad available as they get to work on preparation for the upcoming campaign, while we’ll hope for good news on those returning from injury with Jacob Ramsey still sidelined for some time.
Nevertheless, it was great to see Archer report for duty just nine days after featuring in the U21s European Championship final, and it’s hoped that he’s raring to go to prove that he’s ready to be given a chance by Emery this season.
As for Coutinho, he’s hopefully put his injury woes behind him and returned healthy, as the Brazilian playmaker now faces a crucial period where his future could yet be determined as he still has a point to prove too.
“I talked with him [Coutinho] this week,” Emery told VillaTV in May. “He’s a little bit unlucky with his month because I didn’t see him play matches like I want. But, of course, with the injuries coming, we have to be patient as well, now we are going to wait for his recovery.”
Naturally, Emery’s priority last season was to improve our performances and results and that ultimately resulted in European qualification. However, he would also have used that time to assess his squad and determine who fits into his plans long term, and he didn’t get much of an opportunity to make a decision on Coutinho.
The 31-year-old missed our last 15 games due to injury, and so pre-season may well tell us a lot about how involved he’s likely to be amid speculation over his future earlier this month.
As for the others, it’s great to see key individuals in the dressing room return, and they’ll hopefully now raise the level in training again and help our new signings settle in as we look to be fully prepared for August 12 against Newcastle Utd in our Premier League season opener.