Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard wants to make Morgan Sanson ‘feel part’ of the squad again

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard wants to make injury-stricken midfielder Morgan Sanson feel at home again with Aston Villa following a tough few months.

Sanson, 27, has had a torrid time since arriving at Villa Park in January, making just 10 appearances and four starts in that time due to constant injury troubles.

And Gerrard, once a player on the end of niggling problems himself in his career, knows just how frustrating it can be and may well be the perfect manager to help the Frenchman flourish from here on out.

The former Liverpool captain admitted that he sensed the frustration from Sanson almost immediately when he arrived at Villa Park and was quick to reassure him that he has a part to play in the claret & blue.

“It’s a clean slate for the whole group,” Gerrard explained.

“Every player will be treated the same and given the opportunity to impress and stake a claim for sure.

“Morgan is slightly disadvantaged than the rest in that he hasn’t played much, we haven’t had chance to see him much.

“We competed against Morgan in a pre-season friendly up at Rangers versus Marseille so we were certainly aware of his quality and his talent.

“I’ve sat down with Morgan face-to-face and said let’s get you up to speed from a physical and a mental point of view to have you ready in the best way we can and then there will be opportunities for him.

“We certainly know of his quality, we know that he can help us and it’s very much a clean slate not only for him but everyone else as well.”

And it seems as though the new Head Coach has already found a winning approach for the 27-year-old.

All players need to be managed differently, there’s no two ways about it and Gerrard’s arm around the shoulder approach looks to be just what he needed.

Sanson was a surprise selection in the match day squad in last week’s victory over Brighton and the manager says he has since followed that up with an excellent week of training.

“I think the decision on Morgan last week was more for him,” Gerrard said.

“I think he’d had a tough time, a frustrating time. So I wanted to put him in to make him feel good, I wanted him to feel part of it.

“And also it was a right fresh start and he’d put in two real strong training performances.

“He’s backed that up this week and he’s built on that. He’s starting to look a little bit fit and sharper as the days go by but he needs more work he needs more training sessions before he’s fully ready.”

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.