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Clement Lenglet may never start for Aston Villa again after Legia Warsaw flop, Diego Carlos injury boost emerges
Aston Villa have received a timely boost ahead of a crucial few weeks ahead with defender Diego Carlos set to return to Villa Park training next week which means Clement Lenglet may never start again after his Legia Warsaw flop.
According to Midlands outlet Express & Star (23 September), the former Sevilla defender is set to return to first-team training next week providing boss Unai Emery with more options in defence.
The Brazilian centre-back has spent three weeks on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury in the 3-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield before the international break, where he was withdrawn so early in the first half.
Since making the move from Sevilla last summer, Carlos hasn’t exactly had the best of luck, with his long-term injury at the start of last season against Everton summing things up.
Back from injury with a new season underway, and Emery in the technical area, Carlos has finally been ready to take his chance at Villa Park as of late, however, featuring in all four Premier League games [Transfermarkt] since the Liverpool setback.
Following the long-term injury to fellow experienced international defender Tyrone Mings, the last thing Emery wanted was another spell on the sidelines for another of his key defenders and so it happened, and it proved rather damaging on the European return on Thursday night (21 September) as they suffered a disappointing 3-2 defeat at the hands of Legia Warsaw.
The Spaniard was forced to rest Pau Torres for the fixture and start Clement Lenglet alongside Ezri Konsa and both players were completely torn to shreds as Legia could well have scored more than three goals.
While Konsa was given a woeful SofaScore rating of 6.1 [SofaScore], failing to register a single tackle, no interceptions, no blocks, and dribbled past once while winning all of his aerial duels, the uncapped Englishman is sure to keep his place in future given his importance to Emery, shown through his new Aston Villa contract.
However, the same can’t be said of Barcelona loanee Lenglet who also endured a torrid evening in Poland and was half-asleep for all three of Legia’s goals.
While he completed 100% of his ground duels, 93% of his passes and one of his single dribbles, Lenglet failed to win any of his aerial duels which is shocking considering his tall and lanky frame, registered just one tackle all night and failed to register any interception, clearance, blocks [SofaScore] in a rather lacklustre display.
The Frenchman certainly failed to convince at the heart of the Aston Villa defence on his debut and Emery will be desperate to bring back Torres into the fold at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea on Sunday.
With Carlos returning back to action soon enough, Thursday’s calamity may well have been the last we’ve seen of Lenglet starting under Emery throughout his loan spell in the West Midlands.
In other Aston Villa news, the club are reportedly willing to double this Real Madrid star’s wages to bring him to the Premier League.