Samuel Iling-Junior in middle of ‘odd scenario’ ahead of Aston Villa v Bologna
Dan Bardell believes Aston Villa loanee Samuel Iling-Junior could make his first Villa Park appearance for Bologna in the Champions League.
The 21-year-old joined the Villans in the summer, as part of a swap deal with Juventus for Douglas Luiz, before being loaned immediately back to Italy.
There is now a chance that the England Under-21 international could feature against Villa with the Serie A side and make his B6 bow.
Sky Sports and talkSPORT journalist Bardell can see him making a substitute appearance as opposed to a start amid an “odd scenario”.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell said: “He scored a brilliant goal on his debut but it has been a bit stop-start, his time there.
“I do think he will enter the pitch at some point but I don’t think he will start the game.
“It’s an odd scenario that an Aston Villa player hasn’t played at Villa Park yet and he’s going to make his debut there playing for another team. It certainly adds an interesting angle to the game.“
Samuel Iling-Junior could feature for Bologna against Aston Villa
The versatile winger joined the Villans to be met with plenty of excitement from supporters which was dampened when he was immediately loaned out.
Since making the move back to Serie A, Iling-Junior has made just five appearances with just 91 minutes coming in the league [FotMob].
The 21-year-old could play his sixth game of the campaign against his parent club with UEFA rules stating that loan players can feature against their parent club [The Athletic].
It would be a strange thing for fans to see but it will be interesting to see how the ex-Chelsea man plays against Villa.
In other Aston Villa news, Unai Emery has joined the race to sign one Brentford ace amid the latest top-six development.
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