Aston Villa journalist Danny Raza has been discussing Villa midfielder John McGinn and his return from injury.
This comes after the topic of McGinn was brought up in a recent episode of Holtecast, a Villa-based podcast looking ahead to Villa’s upcoming Premier League match against Sheffield United.
Regarding whether or not Dean Smith will hand McGinn a place in the starting XI, Raza said that there is a “possibility he starts, but I can’t see it, personally.”
“[McGinn is] not going to save our season during the Sheffield United match. If he proves me wrong then great, but I can’t see him coming straight off a layoff and doing so well.”
Back in December, McGinn fractured his ankle against Southampton, resulting in the midfielder missing a large portion of Villa’s season (per Transfermarkt).
Now that Villa managed Dean Smith has recently revealed that the Scottish international has been back in training and even took part in two recent training matches, this has opened the door for discussions like these to be made on whether or not McGinn could or should start against Sheffield United.
Would Villa still be in the relegation zone if McGinn had stayed fit this season?
Yes, probably
No, they'd be safe
TIF Thoughts…
With McGinn having suffered such a serious injury and with him having missed so much of the season resulting in him not playing for a few months, Smith has to be careful with how he uses the midfielder when the season resumes.
So in this instance, Raza is right to be concerned about McGinn potentially starting for Villa this soon.
The fact that the midfielder has managed to get some playing minutes during two of Villa’s recent training matches shows that he is getting back up to speed and could potentially be ready to start this week.
If McGinn does start the match against Sheffield United and doesn’t feel he is ready to play the whole game or for a substantial amount of time, Smith has the opportunity to substitute the midfielder whenever he feels necessary.