Aston Villa academy: Aaron Ramsey hit by double blow as injury and Dean Smith sacking put Norwich future in doubt
Aston Villa youngster Aaron Ramsey has appeared to confirm he is undergoing an operation for his knee injury after posting a picture of him from a hospital bed on social media.
The 19-year-old midfielder, who is on a season-long loan at Norwich City, has missed the last three Championship games after picking up an untimely injury in the 2-1 loss to Middlesbrough.
This season the young prospect has featured 18 times under former Villa boss Dean Smith – who was sacked earlier this week – scoring three goals and picking up a further three assists in a real coming-of-age year.
However, his absence away from the first team could be longer than first-feared, as he posted an Instagram story of himself smiling from a hospital bed with one leg bandaged up.
The caption read “road to recovery” and suggested that his spell on the sidelines could be prolonged. Speaking in his pre-match press conference against Reading, interim boss Allan Russell was alarmingly vague about the injury Ramsey was facing.
He said: “To be honest, I’ll leave that one with the medical team. There are a couple of issues that need to be looked at, and there’s no point talking about it at this stage.”
While the extent of his injury is still unknown, his long-term future at the Championship club has been thrown into doubt following the sacking of Smith – who worked with the youngster during his time as manager at Villa Park.
The teenager has enjoyed a fruitful spell at Carrow Road this season and has really gotten to grips with the tough realities of Championship football under the guidance of Smith. With a familiar face at the club, and Villa enjoying the number of minutes he was being awarded, the loan spell was a win-win scenario for both parties before these recent developments.
According to Birmingham Live, academy loan manager Mile Jedinak is expected to check in on Ramsey following Smith’s dismissal, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the youngster return to B6 in the January transfer window.
If Ramsey does cut his loan spell short at Norwich City, it will be a massive disappointment to Jedinak and other staff at the academy and could well halt his progress towards the first team.
In other Aston Villa news, Reactive Unai Emery twisted a little late in Aston Villa’s loss to Liverpool on Boxing Day.