Blow for Villa: 'Crowd favourite' now ruled out due to injury; Leeds once made a bid for him

Aston Villa winger Leon Bailey has returned to training but won’t feature against Leeds United this evening.

Bailey, who Dean Smith backed to become a ‘crowd favourite’, has missed the last eight fixtures in all competitions with a thigh problem.

Reports during the international break suggested that the 24-year-old could return against Marcelo Bielsa’s side this evening. Steven Gerrard admitted that the Jamaican, who Leeds made a bid for back in 2020, wasn’t ‘too far away’ prior to the international break.

However, although Bailey is progressing with his recovery, he won’t be in the squad this evening.

Talking in his pre-match press conference, relayed by Villa’s official Twitter account, Gerrard confirmed that Bailey has returned to full training but won’t be involved against Leeds.

“We’ve now got Leon Bailey back in full training, but he won’t be in the squad tomorrow.”

Villa’s next fixture is a trip to St James’ Park on Sunday to face Newcastle, so with a week’s worth of full training under his belt, perhaps Bailey may make a return in four days’ time.

You’d expect that Gerrard will be cautious when it comes to the explosive winger, so he may decide to hand Bailey a place on the bench and gradually ease him back.

Bailey has had a tough time in his first season in England, contributing to just three goals, but hopefully, he’ll now enjoy an injury-free rest of the campaign and Villa fans will see the best of him in 2022/23.

In other news: Villa and Lange now looking to pip Leeds in race for soon-to-be free agent. 

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