Aston Villa have showcased a new Amadou Onana replacement over the last 2 games, but is Victor Lindelöf the right option for Istanbul?
Would you play Lindelof if Onana is unavailable for the Europa League final?
Aston Villa’s Victor Lindelöf experiment worked a treat against Nottingham Forest on Thursday, as Villa sealed their passage to the Europa League final with a 4–1 aggregate win after winning 4–0 on the night. However, the roll-out of the Sweden captain in the same role against Burnley on Sunday was less successful, and you have to wonder, against an already relegated team, whether it was required?
In fairness, you could argue that Emery is playing Lindelöf into the role just in case he is required for the Europa League final on the 20th May against Freiburg in Istanbul. The noise is that Onana should be back for the final, although match sharpness may be an issue and the likelihood of him being able to give 90+ minutes feels unlikely.
Lindelöf was eventually replaced in the 74th minute by the more attacking Emi Buendía, with Ross Barkley moving back into a central midfield berth.
Lamare Bogarde had been the go-to man before Forest, with the Dutch Under-21 international receiving mixed reviews for his covering of Amadou Onana. Emery felt it was time for a change and turned to Lindelöf, who received wide acclaim for his performance at Villa Park. Douglas Luiz seems to be completely out of favour and, unless something dramatically changes, he goes down as another recruitment failure for Villa, although you can see why he was signed as Villa endured a midfield injury crisis back in January. Villa have an option to buy Luiz built into the loan deal with Juventus. It seems massively unlikely that the Villans will activate that option, nor should they.
It does feel that, barring injury, that place in the team for the final is the only space up for grabs, and with the above in mind, it does feel like a shootout between Lindelöf and Onana. Ross Barkley is not registered as part of Villa’s Europa League squad, an unfortunate casualty of registration rules, and someone I’m sure Emery wishes he could call on.
Emery said of Onana’s chances of making the final: “Hopefully, but I don’t know,” he said in his post-match press conference after Forest. “He is still being injured.”
“Firstly, the doctor told us it is more or less three weeks. We are going to be working with Lindelöf in this position, we are working hard with Bogarde in this position. We do not have (Boubacar) Kamara, who of course is very important for us. But I am positive with the players we have. In case someone is not available, we will find solutions, like we did always.”
Onana is viewed as being integral to Villa’s midfield, especially in light of Kamara’s absence, but Lindelöf, despite not being a midfielder, probably feels like the best contingency right now.
Lindelöf can perhaps count himself unfortunate to have not started more games this season. Villa’s winter run came with him partnering Ezri Konsa at centre-half, with Mings and Torres both absent through injury at the time.
Along with others, central midfield may be an area Villa explore in the summer. They have recently been linked with Curtis Jones, and Ross Barkley has been linked with a move away. Barkley’s contract expires in the summer of 2027, not 2026 as was previously mooted.