Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard must have been delighted when Bertrand Traore returned to training this week.
Birmingham Live reported on Thursday morning that the player the Villans paid Lyon £17m for in September 2020 was back in action at Bodymoor Heath after over two months on the sidelines.
Traore hasn’t hit top gear yet at Villa Park and of course, he was a signing made before Gerrard took the helm.
But the new manager will surely look at the extremely talented 26-year-old and see big potential.
He notched a very acceptable seven goals and seven assists in his first season at Villa, netting in big games against the likes of Chelsea, Man United and Leicester.
The fact that he can play in a number of positions across the forward line makes him extra useful too, particularly given the general injury and Covid woes at Villa right now.
However, there was always a big chance that if he regained fitness in time, he would be heading to the Africa Cup of Nations with Burkina Faso and his selection was confirmed on Thursday morning.
Burkina Faso’s first match in the tournament is on 9 January against Cameroon but they have two warm-up matches in Dubai, the first of which is on 30 December.
Therefore, there may barely be an opportunity to get Traore back involved at Villa before he jets off.
Birmingham Live have suggested that Gerrard may be able to delay the forward’s departure, but given that he will need to be in Cameroon before 9 January, at most he could be available for three matches and it’s highly unlikely that he’s fit enough to make a big impact in that time.
It’s tough on Villa, given that they paid so much for him 18 months ago and he’s been out for so long, but Gerrard has been good at maximising the resources at his disposal so far in his managerial career.
He managed a depleted Rangers side from afar to an Old Firm win in August amid a Covid outbreak at Ibrox and he’s turned around Villa’s fortunes since arriving in Birmingham, so he no doubt sees this as a frustrating break but one he’ll be able to work around successfully.
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