Emi Buendia returned to competitive action after 12 months on the sidelines when Aston Villa’s U21s beat Fleetwood Town 3-2 on Tuesday evening.
It’s the international break, so the majority of the players have either gone on national duty or are on a short break ahead of the Premier League’s return next week.
Aston Villa beat Leicester City over the weekend, with Buendia being an unused substitute, whilst Ross Barkley and Jacob Ramsey starred from the bench.
All three players were named in the squad to face League One side Fleetwood Town, managed by Charlie Adam, in their first Bristol Street Motors Trophy fixture of the new season.
To the delight of the Aston Villa fans, Buendia netted a brace, including a stunning first-time volley into the bottom corner to open the scoring.
Fleetwood hit back in the second half and they levelled the scores, before Kyrie Pierre scored a late winner.
But it wasn’t any of these players who were getting plaudits for their performance after the match because another teenager stole the headlines.
Ben Broggio was lauded by The Villa Academy’s Twitter account for his performance and how he was ‘supreme’ playing off the right.
It’s another positive sign that the club’s academy is going places and many of these young kids will be targeting a place in the squad when Villa face Wycombe in the League Cup later this month.
Ben Broggio stars for Aston Villa’s U21s
“I’ve tweeted his name about ten times tonight, but Ben Broggio was supreme this evening playing off the right,” wrote the Villa Academy.
“Todd Alcock looked at ease in midfield and Travis Patterson provided his usual impetus from left-back.”
Emi Buendia’s return
It would have been a tough injury road for Buendia, but he will be delighted that he has got his first set of competitive minutes under his belt.
Now, it’s a case of targeting a place in a very cramped and competitive midfield because there are many players ahead of him.
Morgan Rogers continues to grow for Villa and he has signed for the club and then pushed ahead of the Argentine during the time he has been injured.
But the games are going to come thick and fast in these coming months, so there is plenty of time for Buendia to make some noise.
