After impressing in his opening appearances for Aston Villa, Diego Carlos has been dealt a hugely disappointing injury blow after suffering a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.
The 29-year-old is now set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines, thus ruining his first season at Villa as well as denying him the chance to stake a real claim to make the Brazil squad for the World Cup later this year.
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Beyond the disappointment from a football perspective, it’s heartbreaking for the player, and it’s hoped that he can make a speedy and full recovery and come back the same player he was before.
For Steven Gerrard, it’s a major blow not only given the quality that Carlos brings to the side both on and off the ball, but having also made him part of the leadership group within the squad, he would have undoubtedly hoped to lean heavily on him this season.
As one of our two marquee signings this summer, the fact that we’ve now lost him for a significant period of time will weaken us, and although we have options in defence to come in with Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa, Calum Chambers and Kortney Hause vying for places, they don’t quite bring what Carlos does hence why we improved our squad by signing him.
It’s especially cruel so early in his time at Villa as it’s already a difficult enough process as it is for him to settle in a new team, new environment and get his family settled in a new country. Having such a lengthy spell out will undoubtedly be frustrating, but he’ll no doubt be hard at work on his recovery and rehabilitation following surgery.
Despite only totalling 179 minutes of football for Villa thus far, Carlos has already displayed his strength, aggression, composure and technical quality to become a clear starter for Gerrard, while there were positive signs in his partnership with Mings at the weekend.
That in turn makes it all the more frustrating that we’ll now have to make do without him for several months, but the focus now is on making sure he recovers fully and this injury doesn’t hamper his ability to come back stronger and be an influential part of our push for success moving forward.
