![\"Evann](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754820739_783_0_Olympique-de-Marseille-v-Aston-Villa-Pre-Season-Friendly.jpg\")
Evann Guessand of Aston Villa(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\nAston Villa’s new \u00a330 million signing Evann Guessand will likely head to AFCON later this yearEvann Guessand of Aston Villa(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Aston Villa\u2019s new signing, Evann Guessand, could miss several games next season if he is selected to represent Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) later this year.<\/a><\/p>\n The tournament runs from December 21 to January 18, meaning Guessand<\/a> could miss up to seven matches in all competitions, including the FA Cup<\/a> third-round weekend.<\/p>\n His absence would ultimately depend on Ivory Coast\u2019s progress in the competition, though it is likely that national team manager Emerse Fa\u00e9 will select him.<\/p>\n AFCON begins one day after Villa are scheduled to face Manchester United, with Ivory Coast\u2019s first match coming against Mozambique on December 24. This means there is a chance Guessand could feature against United, depending on the fixture\u2019s exact timing.<\/p>\n If called up, Guessand would miss the Boxing Day trip to Chelsea and likely the December 30 clash away at Arsenal. Ivory Coast\u2019s final group-stage match is against Gabon on December 31.<\/p>\n Should they progress, the round of 16 will be played between January 3 and 6, which would also rule Guessand out of Villa\u2019s home game against Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n If Ivory Coast reach the quarter-finals, which conclude on January 10, Guessand would miss the January 7 trip to Crystal Palace as well as the FA Cup third round.<\/p>\n Progress beyond the quarter-finals would see him unavailable for the home match against Everton on the weekend of January 17, with the semi-finals, third-place play-off, and final taking place between January 14 and 18.<\/p>\n Villa\u2019s opponents could also be affected. Manchester United may be without Andr\u00e9 Onana, Noussair Mazraoui, Bryan Mbeumo, and Amad Diallo, all of whom are expected to feature at AFCON.<\/p>\n Just four days after the group stage ends, Villa host Nottingham Forest, who could be missing Ola Aina and Ibrahim Sangar\u00e9. Both Nigeria (Aina) and Ivory Coast (Sangar\u00e9) are tipped for deep runs in the competition.<\/p>\n The round of 16 finishes on January 6, one day before Villa visit Crystal Palace. Villa supporters might quietly back Senegal\u2019s progress, as a deep run would rule out Palace winger Isma\u00efla Sarr, who scored five goals and provided two assists against Villa last season – the second-highest goal involvement against any Premier League team, behind only Bruno Fernandes\u2019 eight against Leicester City. Palace could also lose Cheick Doucour\u00e9 if Mali reach the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n Finally, Everton would be without Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye if Senegal advance to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n What do you make of the news? Tell us here<\/a> It promises to be an exciting season ahead for Aston Villa as Unai Emery’s<\/a> side look to build on last season’s efforts and will look to finish even higher this time around.<\/p>\n Despite not achieving the same feat of the 2023\/2024 season by securing a UEFA Champion’s League<\/a> spot \u2014 the 2024\/25 campaign proved to be a decent one for the Villains. Villa<\/a> managed to get into continental football by qualifying for the Europa League<\/a> and will play their third consecutive season of European competition.<\/p>\n It looks as though there is a lot to look forward to this coming campaign. And with that in mind, we have produced our Aston Villa 2025\/26 Kick-Off special \u2014 our brilliant guide to the new season.<\/p>\n Our team will help you navigate through what to expect from your team this coming season, turn the spotlight on Emery while also providing in-depth analysis and opinion on your club. We look at the summer’s biggest signings, check out each ground, study the managers – new and old – and test your knowledge with our Premier League quiz.<\/p>\n And we also have a full fixtures guide so you don’t miss a game in what is set to be a thrilling season. The guide is available at retailers from August 6 but can be pre-ordered online now and it is a must have for any Aston Villa fan. It is the perfect accompaniment to the season and you can own it before the squad’s opening fixture of the Premier League when they welcome Newcastle United to Villa Park on Saturday, August, 16.<\/p>\n Priced \u00a33.50, pre-order your copy now <\/a>from our online store<\/a> and get it delivered direct to your door.<\/strong>Available to purchase in most supermarkets, high street retailers and independent newsagents in Birmingham from August 6, 2025. For online purchases, postage and packaging applies. Worldwide shipping is available.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aston Villa’s new \u00a330 million signing Evann Guessand will likely head to AFCON later this yearEvann Guessand of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[119360,422,9165,10234,855,748,393,86439,97,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-332861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-aston-villa-fa-cup","9":"tag-aston-villa-fc","10":"tag-aston-villa-transfer-news","11":"tag-barclays-premier-league","12":"tag-birmingham","13":"tag-britain","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-evann-guessand","16":"tag-fa-cup","17":"tag-great-britain","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115003939054848803","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754310492_873_1_villaspec.jpg\")
Get your Aston Villa pre-season special edition of the Birmingham Mail<\/p>\n