Aston Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki has trained with Japan for the first time during this international break.
The 24-year-old had come close to securing a move to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer window.
PSG didn’t complete the operation, allowing Aston Villa to agree to a deal with Parma to sign him in August. The Premier League side reportedly paid around €30m to the Serie A club.
Suzuki replaced Emiliano Martínez, and the Argentine moved to Chelsea on August 30th. He has kept one clean sheet and conceded seven goals from six matches for the Villans so far.
Last weekend, the Japan international played the full 90 minutes in the Villans’ 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur and then joined the national team.
‼️ Welcome to INTERNATIONAL BREAK BINGO
🇫🇷 Will there be French mutiny?
🇦🇷 Should we expect Argentina tears?
❓Who will say something stupid and claim mistranslation?
🩺 Which big new signing will get injured?
▶️ Play along… 👇https://t.co/J3ZDwQEYs4— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) September 24, 2026
Injury concern for Aston Villa player
On Thursday, Japan secured a 3-1 friendly win over Uruguay in Miyagi. Prior to this tie, Zion Suzuki didn’t train with the national team and was on an individual schedule.
Earlier this week, Sport Witness covered a report from Japan explaining that the stopper was training alone because of a rib injury.
Japan will face Venezuela in Hiroshima on Monday, and their players have already arrived in the city.
Zion Suzuki has now returned to training for the first time during this international break. Nikkan Sports state the goalkeeper appears to be ‘recovering well’.
The Japan team travelled from Miyagi to Hiroshima via a chartered flight and today’s training had two groups.
The first had players who got more minutes in their win over Uruguay. The second had 13 players who either didn’t feature or played a handful of minutes. The Aston Villa man belongs to this group.
Aston Villa goalkeeper likely to return
Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu started Kashima Antlers’ Tomoki Hayakawa in goal on Thursday.
With Zion Suzuki’s recovery, he has to decide whether to start him or continue Hayakawa in goal against Venezuela. Unai Emery & co. will closely monitor his development.
The Villans will host Brentford on October 10th and barring any further setbacks, Suzuki is most likely to start in this tie.
