England trio given break as Aston Villa start pre-season training

Jul 8 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

GABBY Agbonlahor, James Milner and Craig Gardner will be missing when Villa return to pre-season training tomorrow after being given more time off to recover from their England exertions.

The Young Lions will not be back at Bodymoor Heath until early next week following their summer-long involvement with Stuart Pearce’s squad in the Under-21 European Championships.

Agbonlahor, Milner and Gardner finished their domestic season with Villa on May 24 but had to report for international duty for the prestigious tournament in Sweden just days later.

And with the Under-21s making it all the way to the final in Malmo on June 29 – only to lose 4-0 to Germany – the Villa three would have had less than a fortnight to recover from a gruelling season.

Along with their England commitments, Agbonlahor and Milner made 45 and 37 starts respectively in league and cup for Villa last season, with the winger also playing for Newcastle three times.

So, despite the majority of Villa’s first-team squad reporting back tomorrow, Martin O’Neill has allowed the duo and Gardner extra days off and the manager and his staff will monitor them throughout pre-season to assess if they need more respite.