Aston Villa: Defence worries increase as Luke Young to miss start of season
VILLA’S search for defensive reinforcements took on even greater urgency today after it emerged Luke Young will miss the start of the season.
A thigh injury which has plagued the right-back since returning from his summer break will not heal in time for next Saturday’s opener against Wigan.
It means Villa could be down to just two fully fit senior defenders, Carlos Cuellar and Nicky Shorey, with Curtis Davies still carrying a shoulder injury.
With a deepening defensive crisis manager Martin O’Neill must move quickly to bring in priority targets Sylvain Distin, Habib Beye and Stephen Warnock.
O’Neill has lost the retired Martin Laursen, and allowed Zat Knight to leave, while left-back Wilfred Bouma is still sidelined by a long-term ankle problem.
The Villa boss is putting a brave face on the Young situation but with the former Middlesbrough full-back unavailable for tomorrow’s Villa Park friendly against Fiorentina he is unlikely to be risked against the Latics with no pre-season action under his belt seven days later.
“Luke Young, in the last few days, is feeling a great deal better,” said O’Neill, who also admitted that Bouma’s recovery was becoming “laborious”.
“He is obviously frustrated because he has had no pre-season games whatsoever and that is a blow.
“But I think he might start proper work again, trying to build up again next week, if everything goes well.
“I said that a fortnight ago when it was going well indeed, but he felt sore again after working exceptionally hard on one of the days out in Spain, but I’ve got fingers crossed.
