Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez has provided an update as the squad have flown out for our pre-season tour of the USA.
Villa got our summer schedule underway last weekend with a 1-1 draw at Walsall, but now Unai Emery’s side will step up preparations for the new Premier League campaign with a stint Stateside.
READ MORE: Monchi tipped to step up Villa pursuit of attacking target
Click here to sign up for the new Talk Villa newsletter, your free weekly Villa round-up straight to your inbox!
While the bulk of our training will now be done there, we also have three games in six days as part of the Premier League Summer Series, as we face Newcastle United, Fulham and Brentford.
Given it’s Emery’s first pre-season in charge having joined us mid-way through the last campaign, it will be a crucial period for him and the players to continue to work on things and build on the progress we made last year.
As seen in the image below, Martinez was excited to share an update of him and a number of the Villa players on board ready to jet off.
With Tyrone Mings, John McGinn and Lucas Digne, Cameron Archer, Jaden Philogene, Ezri Konsa and Filip Marschall also confirmed on board so far, Pau Torres, Diego Carlos, Emiliano Buendia, Philippe Coutinho and Douglas Luiz are all making the trip too, and it will of course become clearer once they land who else has and hasn’t made the trip.
Emery is expected to include a number of our youngsters too, but any absences will perhaps give us an indication as to who might be leaving in this window as they’re not part of his plans, and who may be looking for a loan move in the coming days and weeks.
It promises to be a fascinating week or two now as Villa step things up, and while it will be interesting to see how quickly Torres and Youri Tielemans settle, time will tell if we add any more new signings during the trip and are able to get them across to join up with the squad.
Villa begin the new season against Newcastle Utd on August 12, and it’s a busy start to the month given our league games as well as the Europa Conference League playoff round at the end of August.
In turn, it’s hoped that everyone comes through the pre-season camp unscathed and fully fit, and it’s good to see a number of the players confirmed as being on their way to the USA to get valuable training sessions and minutes to prepare for the new season.
✈️🇺🇸🟣🔵#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/gk6XNeVle8
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) July 19, 2023
We’re on our way. 👊
See you soon, @PLinUSA! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/EXf484SISx
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) July 19, 2023
