Aston Villa defender Diego Carlos is moving ever closer to making his comeback as he has been pictured rejoining full training with his teammates for the first time.
The 29-year-old has been sidelined since last August after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in only his second competitive appearance for us, and so it’s been a long road back for the Brazilian in his recovery.
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While Villa have changed manager in that time, he will be itching to force his way into Unai Emery’s starting XI as soon as possible, and it appears as though he is on the verge of working his way back into contention.
For the first time since suffering the injury, Carlos has been pictured in full group training alongside his teammates, marking a significant point in his rehabilitation.
As per Villa’s site, he is now said to be edging closer to a return, but naturally the Villa medical staff along with the coaches will monitor his progress closely and gradually integrate him back into first-team action at a pace that limits the risk of a late setback.
It seems likely that he will get a run-out with the youth team at some stage to get much-need minutes to build his match fitness and sharpness, and perhaps building on that, he will get playing time in the Premier League where Emery is able to bring him on in the latter stages of games to get back up to the tempo and intensity of the top flight.
After putting in so much hard work to get to this point over the last six months, Carlos is almost back in the fold and it will undoubtedly be a huge boost for us to have him back in contention.
Particularly with his aggressive and physical style of defending coupled with his technical quality and passing ability, he seems like an ideal fit for Emery’s style of play and identity, and so he will certainly provide real competition in that department as he’ll push to displace one of Tyrone Mings or Ezri Konsa in the coming weeks.
For now though, it’s great to see Carlos back among the group and in good spirits, and based on the reactions from some of his teammates on social media, they are delighted to have him involved again too.
Step-by-step. 💪 pic.twitter.com/Z9p0Fg0xUg
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) February 21, 2023
Getting closer. 👊
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) February 21, 2023
