Aston Villa’s new signing, Alex Moreno, could be in line to face Leeds United on Friday night when Jesse Marsch’s side travel to the Midlands.
The 29-year-old left-back is Unai Emery’s first capture of the January transfer window, and following his move from Real Betis, he was sent a message by Leeds United back-up goalkeeper, Joel Robles.
Moreno posted on his Instagram ‘first day’, accompanied by pictures of him with his new teammates. In the comments section of his IG post, Joel Robles, who played alongside him at Betis, posted: ‘Good luck on Friday’ added with a thinking face emoji and a winking face emoji.
WILL UNAI EMERY START MORENO?
It’s ironic that Moreno is Unai Emery’s first signing because, last January, with Steven Gerrard in the dugout, he also targeted the left-back area by bringing Lucas Digne to the club from Everton.
The France international started Villa’s last Premier League game – their 1-1 draw against Wolves, whilst loanee, Ludwig Augustinsson, who is now injured, started that humiliating defeat to League Two Stevenage in the FA Cup.
But will Emery throw Moreno straight into the mixer for the visit of Leeds United?
From a fitness perspective, there shouldn’t be too much of an issue because he played only four days ago when Betis beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1.
If Moreno does start, then it’s a clear message to Digne that he needs to fix up because, if his performances now drop, then he will struggle to earn regular minutes under Emery.
This shouldn’t be the case of, this is the end of Digne at Villa like it was with Matt Targett, but a great chance for serious competition to now build for that left-back spot and that to then transform across the pitch.
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