Steven Bergwijn appears to be likely to miss Aston Villa’s Conference League match against Ajax Amsterdam, which is good news for the former but bad news for the latter.
According to Voetbal International, the forward has ‘not recovered in time’ for the game and will also be unable to play in the following Eredivisie match against Fortuna Sittard.
This will be a setback for the Dutch team, who will want as many of their key players as possible to face Aston Villa, especially given they have been far from their best all season and are presently fifth in the league.
Not only that, but Steven Berghuis is in a ‘battle against time’ to be fit for the European match, as his manager, John van ‘t Schip, has revealed that a knee ailment is causing some issues.
While the winger can walk normally, he is having difficulty kicking a ball, which is a concern when playing against a Premier League team like Aston Villa, with the medical staff injecting him with painkillers, which was ‘not the purpose’.
Berghuis, assuming that pain decreases, should be fine to play, although Van ‘t Schip did make it clear Bergwijn would not be taking any role against Unai Emery’s side because of his hamstring issue.
In fact, the former Tottenham star may struggle to return in time for the second game in Birmingham next week.
