Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has provided an update on Emiliano Buendia after he suffered a serious knee injury in training on Wednesday.
As per Villa’s statement earlier in the day, the 26-year-old sustained a ‘significant knee ligament injury’ during training, and after undergoing a scan, he will now be kept under review until a further consultation with a specialist.
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While Buendia posted a defiant message on social media as he now faces a difficult rehabilitation and path to a full recovery, it had been hoped that he may still be able to play some part this season.
However, the severity of the injury is seemingly set to rule him out for the entire campaign potentially, with Emery offering some additional insight into what the club expect to be a likely timeline moving forward.
It’s a devastating blow for Buendia, for the Villa boss and the club as a whole as the Argentine playmaker was set to play a pivotal role for us this season, and so it’s not only hoped that he makes a speedy and full recovery, but also that we can deliver success at the end of the season without him.
Emery on Buendia
Going on Emery’s approximate timeline, Buendia isn’t likely to be in a position to feature until April, and so it remains to be seen how the club reacts to the setback in terms of how we fill that void with players already at his disposal, and whether or not it significantly changes our plans in the remainder of the transfer window.
As noted above though, the priority now is that Buendia makes a full recovery from the serious injury, and we’ll hopefully see him play some part at the back-end of the campaign if he can recover ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile, the Villa boss also provided a general update on team news ahead of our trip to St James’ Park, as he revealed that Jacob Ramsey, Alex Moreno, Leander Dendoncker, Bertrand Traore, Tim Iroegbunam and Jhon Duran are all unavailable.
It was added that Duran is expected back next week, and so that will be an important boost in terms of having depth and a different dynamic up front, while it’s hoped that the others can all step up their respective recoveries in the coming weeks too.
Moreno isn’t expected back until late this month at the earlier, while Ramsey is likely to return in mid-September. Time will tell if the others are all able to feature before that.
Emery on other absentees, Duran update
“The same players who were out – Leander Dendoncker, Álex Moreno, Jacob Ramsey, Bertrand Traoré and now Emiliano Buendía, and Tim as well,” he added. “But we are ready, we are ready with the players we are working (with) and very happy with the pre-season.
“And, of course, after the bad news yesterday, we have to adapt quickly again. Jhon Durán is still injured but is coming back next week. Hopefully we can add him in two or three weeks working consistently with us and having the opportunity to play.”
