With the squad now back together ahead of the new Premier League season, Aston Villa have received a boost with Morgan Sanson now reporting for duty too.
The 26-year-old made nine appearances after arriving in January, while he missed the last nine games of the campaign due to a knee injury.
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That would have undoubtedly further complicated his settling in process and trying to find his feet immediately in a new country, new league and new environment, and so it was hoped that he could get a full pre-season schedule in his legs to get up to speed and get into peak condition ahead of the new year.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t quite worked out that way. While the Frenchman was busy posting updates on his social media accounts last month as he worked on his conditioning in his homeland, he wasn’t seen at Bodymoor Heath as the rest of the squad began to filter back in for their preparations.
Neither has he featured in any of the pre-season games thus far, with the visit of Sevilla on Saturday now the last opportunity to do so ahead of the Premier League season starting on August 14 away at Watford.
That is a concern as he’ll need time to get match fit and perhaps even additional treatment to ensure that there are no further setbacks with his knee, and that will be frustrating for all concerned as he’ll have to ease his way into things as the season progresses which is a disruption he won’t have wanted.
Nevertheless, from a positive angle, Sanson is now back in the building and is working towards playing an important role for us this season. The midfielder has now had a chance to settle and adapt to life in England on and off the pitch, and he’ll hopefully use that to his advantage to make a significant contribution when available and selected.
Adding the Frenchman to the mix will be a boost for Dean Smith as it offers him more quality and depth with Villa looking to compete for a European spot this season as well as trying to lift silverware in the cup competitions.
If Sanson can get fully fit without any further setbacks and start to feature in the early stages of the campaign, he’ll hope to start showing the quality and talent that convinced Villa to sign him in the first place and that will no doubt benefit all concerned moving forward as we hope to see the best of him in the very near future.
🙌🏽 Great to see, Morgan Sanson back at BH as he continues his comeback from knee injury.#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/9pVuNVo0jJ
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) July 31, 2021