Aston Villa are expected to have three more summer signings available for Saturday’s trip to Hull City, handing Unai Emery a timely selection boost after a difficult start to the new Premier League season.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Leon Goretzka and Ibrahim Mbaye are all expected to travel with the squad to the MKM Stadium, according to FourFourTwo’s latest Aston Villa team-news update.
Villa have lost their opening two league matches without scoring, but Emery should finally have access to more of the squad assembled during the closing stages of the transfer window.
Aston Villa handed triple boost before Hull
Harwood-Bellis and Mbaye both arrived during the final stages of the window and were unavailable for the defeat to Arsenal.
Goretzka had joined earlier in the summer but has been building towards full fitness after arriving as a free agent.
FourFourTwo reports that all three are expected to travel to Hull, potentially giving Emery several new options from the start or from the bench.
The Villa boss has already indicated that his newest arrivals will need time to fully understand his methods, but he wants his side to take another step forward after a disappointing opening two matches.
Read Aston Villa’s predicted XI against Hull has Mbaye and Harwood-Bellis coming straight into the side,, with both capable of addressing immediate weaknesses.
Mbaye offers the direct wide threat Villa have badly lacked so far.
The 18-year-old gives Emery natural pace and one-against-one ability after Villa failed to register a shot on target across their opening 180 Premier League minutes.
Harwood-Bellis provides another option at centre-back despite his European situation.
The England international was left out of Aston Villa’s Champions League squad this week, but that decision has no impact on his domestic availability.
Goretzka could also be particularly useful at Hull.
Villa are without João Gomes through suspension, while Amadou Onana remains sidelined with his long-term ACL injury.
Johan Manzambi remains unavailable
The positive news surrounding Villa’s newest recruits does not extend to Johan Manzambi.
Emery has now ruled the £59.5million midfielder out of the Hull game despite Manzambi returning to group training this week.
Villa are instead hoping the club-record signing could be ready for either the Champions League meeting with Club Brugge or the following Premier League fixture against Nottingham Forest.
Brian Madjo also remains unavailable.
That means Emery still cannot field his complete rebuilt squad at Hull, but the expected availability of Harwood-Bellis, Goretzka and Mbaye significantly increases his options.
Villa desperately need some of those new faces to make a difference.
Two games have brought two defeats, no goals and no shots on target.
Saturday should provide the first proper opportunity to see whether the final pieces of Villa’s summer rebuild can begin changing that picture.
