Why Aston Villa are set to pay to price as dust settles on 2026 World Cup
Aston Villa kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 5-0 win over Walsall on Tuesday, but a number of players remain absent.
Twenty-three players were used by Unai Emery in total at Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium.
But those who were involved until deep in the World Cup - and there were plenty of them - will be given an extended break.
That is far from ideal preparation for Emery's side heading into a campaign that will see them again have to balance domestic and European football.
New data that has been shared outlines just how badly the Villans could be impacted by the World Cup.
Now that the dust has settled on FIFA's global showpiece, Villa News looks at the figures in some more detail.
Emi Martinez one of 10 Aston Villa participants at World Cup
Emi Martinez was the last man standing among Aston Villa's 10 World Cup participants.
It was a sad conclusion to the tournament for the Villa number one, however, as his Argentina side were beaten 1-0 by Spain in the final after extra time.
Only four other Premier League teams had more players involved at the World Cup.
Lucas Digne (France), Evann Guessand (Ivory Coast), Ezri Konsa (England), Ollie Watkins (England), Victor Lindelof (Sweden), John McGinn (Scotland), Amadou Onana (Belgium), Youri Tielemans (Belgium) and Morgan Rogers (England) were the others.
As previously covered by Villa News, Rogers has now completed a move to Chelsea while Tielemans has joined Manchester United.
Of the others, Onana sustained a serious knee injury and is now set to miss most of the 2026-27 campaign.
As per Sky Sports data, Villa players - including Rogers and Tielemans - played the fourth most of any Premier League side.
In total, they were used for 3,250 minutes across the six-week competition.
Martinez was responsible for 810 of those minutes, having played every second for finalists Argentina. No Premier League player was used more.
What does it mean for Villa going forward?
Emery will no doubt be livid at the sight of seeing Onana go off injured earlier in the tournament, with his worse fears then confirmed.
Rogers and Tielemans are now someone else's problem, but new signing Johan Manzambi is another who will have to be managed.
FIFA rules dictate that players have three weeks off between their World Cup campaign ending and returning to club action.
That is why this pre-season will be massively disjointed for Emery, but the Spaniard will do what he always does and get on with it.