Aston Villa have confirmed the squad that will take part in the Queensland Champions Cup as part of our pre-season tour in Australia.
The entire group have reunited in Australia this week to continue their training after our run-out at Walsall last Saturday, and we’ll now face Leeds Utd, Brisbane Roar and Man Utd in the coming week to step up our preparations for the new campaign.
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Many of the players have been pictured in training sessions over the past four or five days, but Villa have now announced the squad to confirm who will be featuring in our upcoming three outings.
The Villa squad for the Queensland Champions Cup is as follows:
Goalkeepers
Emiliano Martínez, Robin Olsen, Oliwier Zych, Filip Marschall.
Defenders
Ashley Young, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne, Ezri Konsa, Calum Chambers, Diego Carlos, Matty Cash, Frederic Guilbert, Ludwig Augustinsson, Josh Feeney, Kaine Kesler Hayden, Ben Chrisene.
Midfielders
Philippe Coutinho, Boubacar Kamara, Douglas Luiz, John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey, Emiliano Buendía, Leon Bailey, Marvelous Nakamba, Morgan Sanson, Bertrand Traoré, Jaden Philogene-Bidace, Tim Iroegbunam, Aaron Ramsey.
Forwards
Ollie Watkins, Danny Ings, Keinan Davis, Cameron Archer.
Villa take on Leeds on Sunday [July 17] at 05:35, before facing Brisbane on Wednesday [July 20] at 10:45 and then finishing off against Man Utd on Saturday [July 23] at 10:45.
Given the depth of the squad, all those involved will no doubt hope to impress and secure a more prominent role in Gerrard’s plans for this season, while for some, it could merely be continuing to prepare before a possible loan exit elsewhere if that is what is decided is best for them in the short term.
Nevertheless, we’re all itching to see Villa back in action as pre-season is a pivotal period in getting the squad together and fine-tuning our style of play and organisation for the season ahead, and so these three games will be crucial in getting that in place and helping Gerrard get the best out of the players at his disposal.
New signing Ludwig Augustinsson has now joined up with his Villa teammates, Ezri Konsa will hope to step up his recovery from injury and get minutes at some stage while a string of our youngsters will hope to push out more senior players to stake their claim.
It promises to be a fascinating week in Australia as we build up to our Premier League season opener against Bournemouth on August 6, and time will tell if further transfer business is completed during the course of our trip Down Under.
