Villa have to go shopping after Kodjia injury blow
ASTON Villa are on the hunt for a new striker in January after receiving the ‘devastating’ news that Jonathan Kodjia needs another operation on his ankle.
The forward was out for five months earlier this year after breaking his ankle and has suffered a similar injury that means he will be sidelined for another lengthy period.
Kodjia visited two different specialists over last weekend, both of whom confirmed he required surgery.
Manager Steve Bruce admitted it was a massive blow and that he will now be out for months.
He revealed a recruitment has now started to find Villa back-up forward.
“It’s not looking good, in fact it’s flaming awful, if I’m being honest,’’ he said. “He needs another operation and that’s devastating news.
“It’s going to be months and that is a big blow to us. With Hogan missing as well, it’s a huge blow because we know how important he was to us last year.
“Without your No.9, it’s always drive a going to be difficult, but we’ll have to deal with it. We’ll have to. Let’s hope we can find something in January to help us because that’s going to be vitally important.” Kodjia, who missed the period between May and October with the setback, was slowly getting back towards his best before twisting his ankle in the Second City derby draw with Blues. He then recovered in time to go on international duty with the Ivory Coast but in his first training session he broke down and action.
Asked how Kodjia was feeling, Bruce said: “He’s feeling terrible. We thought he was fine when he went on to international duty.
“He had twisted his ankle before but he was fine. They (Ivory Coast) stepped him up and he was going to play for his country. They put the work into him on the Wednesday but unfortunately he broke down. We’ve had all sorts of tests.
“He was in France over the weekend and London on Monday. They’ve both confirmed we need to operate again unfortunately.” is now out of