Aston Villa began pre-season on Saturday with a draw at Walsall, with Diego Carlos logging 65 minutes in a vital run-out for the Brazilian centre-half.
The 30-year-old arrived from Sevilla in a deal reportedly worth £26m last summer, as per BBC Sport, and there was a lot of excitement around his signing given the quality that he showed in Spain.
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However, after a promising start to life at Villa, he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in just his second Premier League game against Everton last August, and subsequently went on to miss almost the entire campaign as he featured for just 25 minutes against Wolves in May.
It’s been a long, arduous road to recovery for Carlos, who continued to provide updates through what was a gruelling rehabilitation, and having suffered the setback so soon after moving to a different country, culture and environment, it can’t have been an easy time for him.
Having pushed to be more involved in the back-end of last season after featuring for the U21s, it was the ideal scenario to see him start against Walsall this weekend, as he managed 65 minutes before being replaced.
Naturally, there was some rust as he looked off the pace at times and inaccurate with his long-range passing, but the more he plays the better he’ll be, and so it’s vital that he keeps coming through unscathed and gradually progressing to get back to his previous levels.
With Tyrone Mings set to return from his extended break next week coupled with the arrival of Pau Torres this summer to ramp up competition for places, it’s imperative that Carlos gets minutes now and builds his fitness, form and confidence, as we hope he’ll play a pivotal role for us in the upcoming season.
From his physical attributes to his defensive qualities and technical ability on the ball to help us maintain possession and build out from the back – something very important to Unai Emery’s preferred style – he ticks a lot of the right boxes to be an important player for us.
However, there will be question marks over whether or not he can return the same as he was previously, and so getting lengthy run-outs in pre-season will help answer those questions and dismiss any fears that he might be carrying the scars of that serious setback with him.
Carlos posted a brilliant message on social media this past week, as seen in the image below, as he thanked Villa fans for their support during his recovery and reiterated his commitment to coming back stronger.
He’ll hope to continue to feature prominently during our pre-season tour in the USA, and that will hopefully help to fully put any concerns behind him and give him the ideal preparation for a big year as we look to compete on multiple fronts, and to do that we need healthy competition and reliable cover across the board.
Diegooo! Diego Carlos on Instagram.
Comeback season 💪🏽🟣🔵#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/BGXRg8pQ5X
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) July 14, 2023
