Aston Villa’s Amadou Onana to miss Belgium qualifiers with hamstring injury

Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana has sustained a hamstring injury and has been ruled out of Belgium’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

The Athletic was informed by multiple sources on Wednesday that he suffered the injury during that day’s training session, forcing him off the pitch.

Onana underwent scans on Wednesday afternoon to determine the extent of injury. News of the Belgian international’s injury follows a similar problem for fellow midfielder Boubacar Kamara, who sustained a hamstring injury during Villa’s 1-0 defeat at Brentford last week. Kamara is expected to miss at least the next fortnight as he recovers.

Onana’s setback means he has not been included in Belgium’s games against Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan, with head coach Rudi Garcia confirming the player’s injury. He will be replaced by Union SG midfielder, Charles Vanhoutte in the squad, alongside Onana’s club team-mate Youri Tielemans.

“There is a lot of competition in midfield, but he deserves it. Due to Onana’s injury, we need a physical presence and he can provide it,” explained Garcia.

Villa sit 17th after one point picked up in their first two matches, a total manager Unai Emery said was “poor” during his pre-match press conference ahead of the visit of Crystal Palace.

“Our start to the season has been poor,” the Spaniard said. “One point in six and even being unbeaten at home, we are again remembering how we lost last year points at home, drawing a lot of matches in a row.”

(DARREN STAPLES/AFP via Getty Images)