The striker has made a number of recent cameo appearances in Aston Villa colours.
Aston Villa’s ongoing injury crisis should perhaps not be viewed as a threat to their three match winning run but instead an opportunity for the club’s next generation to stake their claim, the Birmingham Mail report.
As it stands, Scott Hogan, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy are all out injured, leaving Jonathan Kodjia as the only fit striker in the squad. Even Libor Kozak, the forgotten man whiling away his Villa career in the reserves, has been prevented from making a dramatic return to the fold by fitness issues of his own.
Fortunately, Kodjia continues to fire, netting the second in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Rotherham United, but the absence of any senior striker in reserve means Bruce’s squad is stretched increasingly thin.
On the flipside, however, 18-year-old Keinan Davis (below, left) could one day look back on this injury crisis as the spark that kick-started his professional career.
“He’s learnt and come to the top from non-league very quickly,” Bruce told the club’s official website after handing the forward a debut in the FA Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in January, a year after former Villa boss Remi Garde plucked him from non-league Biggleswade Town.
A hard-working, left-footed striker and a firm admirer of Mario Balotelli, Davis made his third cameo league appearance of 2017 when emerging into the fold in the final minutes against Rotherham and, according to the Birmingham Mail, he will be used as cover for Kodjia until the injury crisis subsides.
He’ll be hoping that he has made a substantial enough impression by the time Hogan and co return for selection.
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