Aston Villa has ‘only briefly spoken’ to Kortney Hause since taking over at the Premier League outfit a year ago with the defender a long-term injury absentee.
For all of Unai Emery’s strengths – his meticulous planning, his remarkable European record, his impressive penchant for building teams far greater than the sum of their parts – he has never really been an arm-around-the-shoulder type.
According to The Athletic, Emery prefers to remain rather distant from members of the Aston Villa squad. Even those considered first-team regulars. As such, with Kortney Hause still unavailable, the former Wolves defender remains little more than a passing acquaintance of the Aston Villa boss.
The one-time Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Sevilla coach has reportedly only ‘briefly spoken’ to Hause. The 28-year-old has not kicked a ball in anger since suffering a knee injury on loan at Watford last term, consigned to the treatment table at around the same time as Emery was appointed as Steven Gerrard’s Villa Park successor.
“I’m gutted for him and for us,” sighed Hause’s then-Watford boss Slaven Bilic, via The Athletic. “He is also gutted about this, don’t get me wrong. He was going to be one of our main men who would help us go back to the Premier League, and I haven’t seen him play.”
No one has seen Hause play, at least not in a competitive capacity, since a 2-2 draw with Sunderland in September 2022.
Aston Villa boast excellent defensive depth
One of the longest-serving members of the Villa squad – Hause joined from Midland neighbours Wolverhampton Wanderers in a £3 million deal relatively early in the Dean Smith era – opportunities are likely to remain scarce even when he returns to first-team contention.
With Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa firmly established as Emery’s first-choice defensive partnership even Diego Carlos and Clement Lenglet – two highly-gifted centre-halves with Sevilla and Barcelona adorning their CVs – have had to stay patient on the sidelines.
