Emery clarifies Villa’s Sancho stance and shares positive injury update

Emery clarifies Villa’s Sancho stance and shares positive injury update

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed the club’s transfer position on Manchester United loanee Jadon Sancho, as he revealed that the forward is in contention to make his injury return on Thursday.

Sancho state of affairs

Villa head into the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie against Bologna with a healthy 3-1 advantage from the fixture in Italy. The Birmingham outfit have the chance to set up a semi-final clash against Porto or Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest.

Sancho has been sidelined from Villa’s last two fixtures with a shoulder injury picked up during the recent international break. A report covered by The Peoples Person relayed that he was not expected to be out for too long.

The injury came at an unfortunate time for the England international, who had just begun to find some good form.

Meanwhile, Sancho’s future has also been the subject of intense debate over the past few weeks. He is set to become a free agent at the end of the season and movements around him have started.

It has been suggested that Villa are open to keeping him permanently but the 26-year-old has his heart set on a return to Borussia Dortmund.

Ahead of Villa’s meeting with Bologna, Emery was asked about the side’s position on the United loanee. The Spanish coach refused to get dragged into discussing the topic, only stating that the focus is on getting the best out of Sancho. Emery also revealed that the player is fit to play vs. Bologna.

Emery clarifies Sancho situation

Emery said, “We are focused 100 per cent in our objective and to speak about the individual futures doesn’t make sense.”

“We spoke a lot during the season, with him and me especially about his task with us, how we need his performance and his qualities. But now it is about tomorrow. He is coming back [from injury] and he is a fantastic player and he needs to be consistent.”

“I think that he is being demanding and he adapted in our structure progressively getting better.”

Emery added, “It is a pity that he was injured in the last weeks because he finished before the break fantastic.”

“Now we are playing matches to check everything and to get our objective collective. Hopefully we can get the best of him and this is our challenge as well.”

Meanwhile, United return to action on Saturday when they go away to Chelsea.

Featured image Eddie Keogh via Getty Images

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