Unai Emery frustrated at Aston Villa injury blow ahead of Fulham clash
Bryan King expects Unai Emery to be “frustrated” after an injury blow to Aston Villa forward Jaden Philogene.
The ex-Villa scout has emphasised that players always run the risk of picking up injuries while on international duty.
It comes after The Athletic reported (14 October) that Philogene is a doubt for Aston Villa’s trip to Craven Cottage to play Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday (19 October).
Philogene picked up an injury while playing for England’s Under-21s in their 2-1 win over Ukraine’s Under-21s in an Under-21 UEFA European Championship qualifier at the Vitality Stadium on Friday (11 October).
The 22-year-old was replaced by Samuel Iling-Junior, who is on loan at Bologna from Villa, raising concerns. However, scans on Monday (14 October) suggested the injury wasn’t as serious as first thought.
Despite this, King – speaking exclusively to Villa News – still feels as though this is an untimely blow for the club.
“It is great when you’re being selected to represent your nation at any level,” King said.
“However, there is always that possibility that somebody is going to get injured. Therefore, managers will always breathe a sigh of relief when their players come back without any injury issues.
“This will have no doubt frustrated Emery and the club. Philogene has been featuring for Villa this season, and if he has to miss a match, that disrupts preparations.
“However, these things are always going to happen when players go away on international duty.
“There is always a possibility of a player picking up a small injury, or even a serious injury. However, you can’t stop players from being picked to represent their countries because that is all part of football. It is an honour for the players.
“However, this is unfortunate because they have the UEFA Champions League coming up next week too.”
Jaden Philogene to miss out for Aston Villa v Fulham
Unai Emery recently expressed his frustration at Morgan Rogers featuring for England’s Under-21s (via the Mirror, 5 October). Therefore, he is unlikely to be a happy man after what happened to Philogene while in action for the Young Lions.
Philogene started back-to-back matches for Villa heading into the October international break.
As a result, he will likely be just as frustrated as his manager by this injury, which threatens to derail the momentum he was beginning to build at Villa Park.
In other Aston Villa news, a Sky Sports journalist has suggested the club could look to sign a brand-new forward in January.
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