Replacing Douglas Luiz was a key discussion point in the latest Claret & Blue Q&A session, which is now available to watch on YouTube or to listen to on your preferred podcast provider.
Questions remain over how Aston Villa will replace Douglas Luiz's impact on the team after his move to Juventus, however the outgoing Brazilian isn't the only midfield conundrum Unai Emery faces. Villa will also be without Boubacar Kamara in the opening months of the season, but have new recruits Ross Barkley and Enzo Barrenechea to bolster their options.
Dan Rolinson and John Townley were asked about Barrenechea's role on the latest podcast. You can catch the episode here , with a whole range of topics covered in this week's Q&A, including Emi Martinez being denied the opportunity to represent Argentina at the Paris Olympics.
Dan: "In terms of Enzo being ready, he will be in the squad and contribute, absolutely. Is he ready to come and start the first game against West Ham next to Youri Tielemans or John McGinn and be our starting number six, our starting defensive midfielder? I'm not so sure on that."
John: "I think the Athletic Bilbao and Borussia Dortmund friendlies will probably tell us a lot about whether Emery is ready to play him or if he looks ready to play, because although they aren't competitive games, they are against high-level teams and that will be Dortmund's final friendly as well. So I'll take quite a lot from that actually. But up until then, I really don't know whether he's going to be ready.
"I definitely like his profile and players of his age. He stood out amongst the best in terms of his numbers (last season), his progressive numbers, defensive numbers, interceptions, tackles. So everything that you want from a Boubacar Kamara replacement is in Enzo.
"If he does well enough to start 15 games, I think he's done well because he doesn't have a lot of experience, but I certainly like what I saw at Frosinone. I just don't know if he'll be ready yet, but as I say, we won't know until another few weeks down the line."