Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has painted a positive picture in relation to Morgan Sanson’s chances of being more involved moving forward.
The 28-year-old finally made his first appearance of the season on Sunday as a late substitute in our win over Man Utd, having seemingly been frozen out by former boss Steven Gerrard.
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Amid speculation of a potential exit ahead of the summer transfer window deadline, it was hugely disappointing to see him snubbed having been an important part of our plans during the pre-season schedule and looked relatively impressive.
After Emery’s arrival last week though, there was renewed hope that Sanson – among others – would benefit from a clean slate, and although it was merely a couple of minutes of action at the weekend, it was arguably quite symbolic that Emery wanted to involve him and bring him on.
“He’s done very well in the days that we have been in the training ground,” Emery said, as per BirminghamLive. “I knew him when he was playing in Marseille when I was in Paris. I think he’s a good player.
“He was injured and out of matches. I think he can help us. Against United, for example, in the last minute, he kept the position he usually plays and his skills were good to help us.”
While he has been plagued by injuries since arriving at Villa in January 2021 and having struggled to cement a place in the starting XI even when fit, there is still genuine hope that Sanson can not only shine for us, but he will now have his best possible chance to do so given how he fits the type of player that Emery wants in his side.
With his technical quality on the ball and his aggression and tenacity out of possession, the Frenchman will be an ideal option for the Villa boss moving forward, and based on his comments above, he certainly sounds as though he has every intention of giving Sanson a real chance to earn a big role.
Conversely, if it doesn’t happen under the current Villa boss then it may not happen for him in a Villa shirt at all, and so the hope is that we see Sanson making an important contribution when he’s given a chance in the side, potentially starting on Thursday night against Man Utd in the Carabao Cup with Leander Dendoncker cup-tied.
