As Unai Emery prepares for life as Aston Villa Head Coach, he’ll be boosted by having Boubacar Kamara and Lucas Digne available on his arrival.
Having announced the Spaniard as Steven Gerrard’s successor, the club also confirmed that he would start his new role on November 1, giving him time to prepare and then settle heading into the encounter with Man Utd at Villa Park on November 6.
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Emery will no doubt be on a watching brief this weekend as we travel to face Newcastle Utd on Saturday, and it’s absolutely crucial that he gets a close look at all of the players at his disposal in the coming weeks so he can identify who could feature heavily in his plans moving forward.
The worst thing for any new Coach coming into a job is having important players missing through injury as it prevents them from making their own assessments, and it’s particularly frustrating for the individuals in question as they’ll want to impress the new boss.
While Diego Carlos will perhaps feel slightly less frustration given Emery might know his game relatively well having crossed paths with him in Spain, it was important to get two other key figures back with Kamara and Digne sidelined for some time due to injury.
Kamara, Digne return at crucial time for Villa
According to L’Equipe, Kamara is set to resume group training on Monday and he could be available as early as that Man Utd clash next weekend, albeit that seems slightly optimistic given how long he’s been out for and so the League Cup encounter with Erik ten Hag’s side just four days later might be a more realistic target.
Further, the same French outlet have reported that Digne returned to group training last week and he could make the matchday squad for the Newcastle game this weekend.
Given how influential Kamara was in our midfield prior to his setback, that is a major boost for the new Villa boss, as his quality in both phases of the game should ensure that he’s a key figure in Emery’s plans moving forward.
Similarly for Digne, with Emery preferring either a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 system in more recent times, he places an emphasis on his full-backs getting forward and providing width, and so Digne will no doubt be a crucial option for him to have.
That said, Ashley Young, Douglas Luiz and even Leander Dendoncker have done a top job of filling in while the French duo have been sidelined, particularly so in the 4-0 win over Brentford last time out.
In turn, they will no doubt hope to keep hold of their starting spots regardless of who is back in contention, and so Emery will face difficult selection decisions immediately.
He’ll surely welcome that though and make the most of having a competitive squad, and so it remains to be seen who wins starting jobs under him with Kamara and Digne adding to the competition and looking to stake their claims sooner rather than later.
