Dan Bardell exclusive: Diego Carlos injury is huge blow to Aston Villa
We’re delighted to welcome The Athletic’s Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
The major injury to Aston Villa defender Diego Carlos is a crushing blow due to his key role in improving the squad, says Dan Bardell.
The ex-Sevilla centre-back suffered a ruptured achilles in the victory over Everton at Villa Park on 13 August, meaning the first win of the season came at a significant cost to the Villans.
The 29-year-old’s signing had increased the standing of the backline and addressed one of manager Steven Gerrard’s main aims for the summer transfer window, so Bardell believes losing him when they have cannot be overstated.
He exclusively told Villa News: “I think it’s a huge blow because obviously Gerrard identified two areas that really needed improving, one of them was centre-back and one of them was defensive midfield.
“So now you take that centre-back out in the first XI and there’s actually only one different player from last season, which was a team that finished 14th, so on paper the team isn’t really much stronger now, because they’ve just literally got Boubacar Kamara in there.
“Because I don’t think Carlos will play again this season. I know a ruptured achilles, it is a bad injury, so it’s a huge blow.
“And obviously being so far through the window now probably other targets that they would have had aren’t available now.
“I know there was a Premier League centre-back that they looked at at the start of the window, he’s now at a different club so they can’t get him. So the people that they might have identified before they can’t get in now.
“They’ve got Kortney Hause still there but it looks like he’s still going to go to Watford, I thought maybe they might pull the plug on that because of the injury to Carlos, but it looks like that’s still going to go through .
“But it comes down to they won’t panic, if there’s not anyone that’s going to come in who’s the right fit, who’s the right kind of player, I don’t think they’ll do it.
“So I think it’ll just be a case over the next few weeks of looking what’s out there, and if there’s not anything out there they think they can do they won’t do it.
“And Josh Feeney will probably come up to fourth-choice centre-half, because he’s been in and around the squad pretty much the whole time since Gerrard’s been there now.”
In light of all the focus on Tyrone Mings the irony of the situation is that the England international will be needed now more than ever.
It might seem like a mistake to let Hause continue out of the club when they have just been severely weakened in that department, but it is the loss of a Champions League calibre defender that is the issue, not just the loss of any defender.
It is cruel luck for the Brazilian more than anyone, but Gerrard will be feeling pretty hard done by for his carefully laid plans to be messed with so heavily after just two games of the new season.
In other Aston Villa news, Ty Bracey admits the pressure is on the Lions manager this season.