Aston Villa left-back Jordan Amavi has been ruled out for the rest of the season after sustaining an injury while on international duty with France.
The 21-year-old came off injured in France’s Euro 2017 (under-21s) clash with Northern Ireland on Thursday night. A challenge from an opposing player produced a picture that made Villa fans fear the worst.
Although rumours started circulating that the France camp did not think it was as bad as initially thought, scans revealed a lengthy setback for Amavi.
For now, Villa’s option at left-bank is most probably Kieran Richardson. The 31-year-old has big shoes to fill; Amavi is regarded as being one of Villa’s best players this season.
The claret and blue faithful will not be feeling too optimistic about the prospect of Richardson being reintroduced back into the Villa squad.
There are other options: Alan Hutton, Ciaran Clark and Joleon Lescott, who have all played there in the past. Jose Angel Crespo was brought in to cover the back four, so presumably he can also play there.
It might seem odd to be considering a right-back, two centre-backs and a utility player as alternatives to Richardson, seeing as Villa have two left-backs out on loan but they would not be able to play them until January due to squad list issues.
Aly Cissohko is currently out on loan at Porto, but has not seen much action for the 27-times Portugese champions. The Frenchman has only played once in the league for Dragões.
It would seem logical to bring him back. The 28-year-old previously played under Rémi Garde when Villa’s new manager was in charge if Lyon.
Even if he cannot play for Villa yet, there is no harm in him training with the squad and not playing, as opposed to training with the Porto squad and not playing.
The second option is Joe Bennett, currently on his third loan spell away from Villa with Bournemouth. The 25-year-old has not really cut it at Villa since joining in 2013, and has not managed to get in the Bournemouth side, which is not a good sign.
Garde could decide to take a punt on Lewis Kinsella (no relation to Mark), a big risk and an unnecessary one when both Cissokho and Bennett have more experience in the Premier League.
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The final option is looking to bring someone in on loan to see the season out, a waste of time when Villa have four left-backs contracted to the club. When Villa desperately need a new striker, all the focus should be on that.
Whoever Garde chooses to replace Amavi with needs a bit of attacking instinct in their game, and as a former winger Richardson will have that. He may just be better than the alternatives at the club.
It is another problem for Garde to fix; not only does he have to figure out how to get Villa scoring, he has got to replace one if their best players.
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