Aston Villa have confirmed that Leander Dendoncker is back in group training after a lengthy absence over the summer and the start of this season.
Despite being named in the squad for our pre-season tour in the USA, the Belgian international didn’t feature in a single game over the summer.
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While the rest of the group were Stateside, he revealed on social media that he had welcomed a new child to his family, but having not yet featured this season in our opening four games, it’s clear that there was also perhaps an injury issue that has kept him sidelined since..
As per Unai Emery last week, Dendoncker was expected to resume training on Monday, and as seen in the image below released by Villa on the eve of our second leg encounter with Hibernian in our Europa Conference League play-off round tie, he is indeed back training with the group at Bodymoor Heath.
“I have had 10 months with him and I am always trying to find [how he can] be regular every day, every month, training, playing and getting his best performance, for some different circumstances he didn’t do it,” Emery told the media, as quoted by BirminghamLive.
“Now, hopefully on Monday he will start to train again with the group, hopefully he is going to keep consistent for a long time because I think he can help us.”
The 28-year-old made 26 appearances for us last season, and again, while reliability and availability was an issue, he did provide some answers as to whether or not he can fit into Emery’s style and plans moving forward.
Further, with his physicality and steeliness in midfield, he offers an important different dynamic in that area of the pitch when we need it, and so if he can stay fit and Emery gets what he needs from him, it could be a crucial boost for us this season as we look to compete on multiple fronts.
Dendoncker’s ability and experience could prove to be vital attributes in order to help us enjoy a successful campaign. We’ll need the depth and cover at the very least to allow Emery to rotate and rest other key individuals, with Thursday night’s game being a perfect example of an encounter he should be involved in to allow the likes of Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara to be benched.
Leander Dendoncker back in training ✅#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/ISDEPHXjXO
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) August 30, 2023
More on defenders it’s good that he’s back in training, but we need a quality forward / Striker, Ollie is having another lean spell in the PL