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After hobbling off against Brentford, it had been thought at the time that Ritchie De Laet has only picked up a minor injury.
In a huge blow however, the newly signed Belgian right back soon confirmed that the knee injury sustained was at best season ending;
De Laet had only made 3 appearances for Villa since signing from Premier League Champions Leicester City in the summer transfer window.
Whilst our first impressions were therefore limited to the confines of those appearances, it seems fair to say that the 27 year olds ability to put his foot in and break up play will be missed in our troublesome right back position.
Worse news was revealed on Sunday morning by Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur, suggesting that the layoff could extend to a full 12 months owing to the nature of the knee / hamstring surgery & necessary recuperation;
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Questions could also be reasonably be asked as to why De Laet, despite being in visible distress, was permitted to continue playing for a number of minutes having sustained the injury.
After having received treatment in the Villa penalty area, the full back broke down minutes later clearly on account of the severity of the injury he had sustained.
Continuing to play on damaged ligaments can presumably not have aided matters and have potentially extended his layoff as a consequence.
In the mean time Villa will have to revert to players who have proven problematic (at best) in the right back role.
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Dutchman Leandro Bacuna has been shoe-horned into the position repeatedly to terrifying results. Alan Hutton, despite his endeavour, is long past his “best” & Micah Richards struggled badly in the role last term.
Unless there is a miraculous resurgence to form from one of the above three squad players, expect Villa to make moves in the January transfer window….the only trouble being that the opportunity is literally months away. *Gulp*
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