Aston Villa are set to kick off their European adventure away at Hibernian on Wednesday night at Easter Road.
Unai Emery has confirmed that he could hand his latest summer signing, Nicolo Zaniolo, who joined from Turkish giants Galatasaray, his debut for Aston Villa.
The Villa boss, as quoted by Birmingham Live, stated ‘hopefully, yes I think so’ when asked about the Italy International making his debut.
Zaniolo is very familiar with the Europa Conference League after he scored the winner in the final for Jose Mourinho’s Roma when they won the competition two seasons ago.
Villa fans will be hoping he picks up from where he left off, and if he takes to the field tonight, marks his debut in style.
Moussa Diaby has already scored on his Villa debut and now there is a chance that Zaniolo can add his name to that list.
“Hopefully yes I think so,” said Emery about Zaniolo playing against Hibs. “Of course, we closed his signing on Friday, and on Saturday it was impossible to take his registration.
“He is fit because he was training with his team and of course, we will need players helping us. He has experience. He won the Conference League with Rome and we are happy with him.”
The John McGinn derby
The Villa captain will return to Easter Road for the first time this evening. In 2018, with Villa in the Championship at the time, he secured a transfer to the Midlands.
It has been an incredible journey for the Scotland International, including winning the Fans’ Player of the Year during his debut campaign which ended in Villa returning to the Premier League.
McGinn has just grown in stature since and is a real crowd favourite, just like he was with Hibs many years ago.
You would imagine that he will get a warm welcome from the Hibs supporters, but once that whistle blows, all of that will go out of the window.
