Aston Villa get their USA pre-season tour underway on Sunday morning, and here’s how Unai Emery’s side line up as we face Columbus Crew.
As expected, Villa have named a strong squad for the trip as we ramp up our preparations for the new campaign, as we’re now just missing Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Emiliano Martinez after their international exploits this summer, while Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara miss out due to injury.
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Jhon Duran is also absent amid ongoing doubts over his future at the club given speculation linking him with a move away, but those individuals aside, Emery will look to rotate and share out minutes over the course of our time Stateside, perhaps moving away from the model of changing his entire line-up at half-time to step up workloads for key players.
It will be fascinating to see how our development is progressing this summer, particularly with our new summer signings such as Ian Maatsen and Amadou Onana now working with their new teammates, and so there was a lot of intrigue over how we would line up for this encounter.
Our latest additions make the bench and so it’s hoped that we see them feature at some point to aid their adaptation, but the big news is undoubtedly the inclusion of Emiliano Buendia on the bench alongside them, as he’ll hopefully make his return to the pitch after a year out due to injury.
The Argentine playmaker has been through a gruelling rehabilitation and recovery process, but having joined up with his teammates for group training at the end of last season, Emery, his coaching and medical staff, all believe that he’s now capable of getting valuable minutes to build his confidence and match fitness back up.
It’s also great to see the likes of Joe Gauci, Kosta Nedeljkovic and Enzo Barrenechea get the nod to start as they look to continue to impress, and it’s an exciting look to the Villa squad as we hope to make maximum use of this pre-season schedule to get in the best possible shape for the new campaign.
Aston Villa XI vs Columbus Crew: Gauci, Nedeljkovic, Feeney, Pau, Moreno; Barrenechea, Barkley, Iling-Junior, Rogers, Archer, Bailey.
Subs: Zych, Wright, Cash, Buendia, Digne, Philogene, Maatsen, Dobbin, Onana, Kesler-Hayden, Dendoncker, Bogarde.
Your Aston Villa team to face Columbus Crew this evening. 👊 pic.twitter.com/yHQEUMpIUD
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) July 27, 2024
