Report – Long term Aston Villa absentee set to return in West Brom friendly
Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn will make his return from a long-term injury against West Brom when the two sides meet in a friendly on Saturday, according to The Telegraph journalist John Percy.
The two clubs are set for a warm-up clash at Villa Park this weekend as they both step up their preparations for their respective leagues restarting later this month, as per the Daily Mail.
It is understood that the midlands rivals will treat the exercise as more of a fitness exercise than a high-intensity competitive match.
Albion could even take two sides, with the prospect of two hour-long matches being floated.
Whatever format the session takes, however, it is expected that McGinn will be involved for the Villans.
A star turn in the early part of the season, the Scot picked up a severe ankle injury in December during a meeting with Southampton.
But writing on his personal account, Percy reported that the midfielder will feature in some capacity against Slaven Bilic’s men.
This is probably a good thing for West Brom, truth be told.
Ordinarily, if we were to be facing a clash against Villa this weekend you would be hoping and praying that McGinn couldn’t feature.
But in this instance, it could end up working to the Baggies’ advantage.
These last nine Championship games are going to be absolutely vital in our bid to return to the Premier League next season, and we need to hit the ground running.
That’s why this friendly has been organised in the first place, and it’s also why playing quality opponents who can test our squad and sharpen them up is important too.
With his match rating of 7.26, McGinn is in the top 20 players in the Premier League this season, according to Whoscored, and even after coming back from such a lengthy absence, he is likely to be a thorn in the side of Slaven Bilic’s men.
For once, that might not be a bad thing.
In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips has tipped this £11.9million ace to transform into a “top player” if he joins Albion.
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