Aston Villa eye U21 plan as Diego Carlos returns to full training after injury

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Aston Villa star Diego Carlos has returned to full training with Unai Emery’s squad after six months out due to injury. The defender could now feature for the Villans’ U21s this Friday.

That is according to Birmingham Live, which reports Aston Villa are already plotting Carlos’ return to the field. He only resumed full team work at Bodymoor Heath this Tuesday after some sessions on the grass last week. It was his first time working amongst Emery’s plans.

Emery has not had Carlos to field since replacing Steven Gerrard at the helm in November. The 29-year-old ruptured his Achilles against Everton in August during his second outing at Villa Park. He had only just joined the Premier League club from Sevilla for £26m last June.

Carlos joined Aston Villa on a four-year contract and immediately ousted Tyrone Mings to start at AFC Bournemouth. Gerrard would then start the centre-halves together at home to Everton. But the Brazilian ruptured his Achilles during the closing stages of the meeting.

Aston Villa now want to see Carlos build his fitness ahead of any return to first-team action with Emery’s team. So, the 29-year-old could face Sunderland’s U21 side on Friday night at Bodymoor Heath. It would be his first minutes in a game in 196 days should Carlos feature.

Carlos will want to show Emery what he can offer Aston Villa after his injury

Carlos’ injury has seen the £100k-a-week enforcer become a forgotten man during his first season with Aston Villa. He will likely now hope to build his fitness quickly to show Emery what he can offer. Yet the Spaniard would know all about him having managed Villarreal.

Emery would have seen Carlos help Sevilla record La Liga’s best defence last season whilst in charge of rivals Villarreal. Los Nervionenses conceded just 30 goals in 38 games to finish fourth in the table. Now, the centre-half will hope to shake off the rust in an U21 meeting.

Aston Villa sealed their first win of the 2022/23 Premier League 2 Division 2 season against Sunderland’s youth side on August 15. The Villans ran out 4-0 victors at the Black Cats with Declan Frith (4’, 8’) opening the scoring with two. Brad Young (44’, 50’) also struck a brace.