Aston Villa defender Matty Cash has not been included in Poland’s squad for their upcoming internationals having been deemed not fit enough to feature.
The 25-year-old missed eight Premier League games after picking up a calf injury while on international duty in March, but he returned for our final three outings, and played a full 90 minutes against both Liverpool and Brighton.
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However, Poland boss Fernando Santos has explained his omission from the latest squad that he has announced, and ultimately it makes sense if Cash isn’t considered to be at full fitness quite yet, as it isn’t a risk that he can afford to take.
“Matty Cash is not 100 per cent ready to play,” Santos told the media in his press conference, as per BirminghamLive. “I cannot wait until June 12 for a player who is not 100 per cent in his capabilities.
“If it was during the season, when the clubs are playing, and the player came to the training camp and was not ready to play, then we would have the opportunity to call up an additional player quickly.
“At the moment, we don’t have that option, everyone will be on vacation on June 12th. If he arrived at the training camp and could not play, we would have a problem with calling up another player.”
While it will likely come as a disappointment to Cash as he will no doubt take pride in representing his national team, from a more selfish Villa perspective, it’s arguably good news that he gets a chance to enjoy a proper break now the season has concluded and can rest and recover after a couple of injury issues over the course of the campaign.
Further, he’ll hopefully now return for pre-season training in top condition and ready to continue to cement his place in Unai Emery’s plans moving forward as our first-choice right-back.
There isn’t that significant of a break for the players given our pre-season tour of USA in July and the Europa Conference League playoff round in early August which will be swiftly followed by the start of a new Premier League season, and so it’s vital that the group recharge over the next few weeks and come back ready for a big year.