Aston Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki has shared a positive update about his fitness, after a setback forced him to miss Japan’s 3-1 friendly win over Uruguay on Thursday.
The Premier League side invested around €30m plus bonuses to sign the stopper from Parma in the summer.
Unai Emery made him Aston Villa’s new No.1 even before letting Emiliano Martínez move to Chelsea.
The Japan international has kept one clean sheet and conceded seven goals from six matches for the Villans.
He played the full 90 minutes in Aston Villa’s 3-2 league win over Tottenham Hotspur last Saturday. After the tie, Suzuki travelled to his country to join the national team camp.
Injury blow for Aston Villa summer signing
Earlier this week, Sport Witness covered a report from Japan explaining that he has a rib injury. This forced him to miss group training and also the clash against Uruguay.
On Friday, the Samurai Blue travelled to Hiroshima and had a training session. Those who enjoyed more minutes against Uruguay were in a group, while the rest were in the other group.
The Aston Villa summer signing, who was on an individual programme, returned to group training yesterday.
A fresh report from Livedoor News again points it out and also relays comments made by the stopper about his current situation.
He said: “I’ve fallen a bit behind, but I want to get back into shape quickly and get myself back to 100%.”
Boost for Aston Villa
Japan have three more friendlies against Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama during this international break.
The next one is against Venezuela in Hiroshima on September 28th. It’ll be interesting to see whether Zion Suzuki will return to the playing XI or whether Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu will decide to start Kashima Antlers’ Tomoki Hayakawa in goal.
Unai Emery & co. can only hope their player doesn’t aggravate his injury and regain full fitness. They want him fit when Aston Villa face Brentford on October 10th.
Suzuki’s latest admission is a welcome boost for the Europa League winners ahead of the busy period [seven matches] in October.
