Aston Villa's New Midfield Signing Is Out Until October - Will He Be Too Late To Save Them?

Leon Goretzka Out Until October...Are Villa In Trouble?

Aston Villa have had a turbalent summer in the transfer window, star players such as Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa and Emilinao Martinez have all departed the club, with seven new players joining the club for a combined fee of nearly £300 million.

One of those signings, despite being on a free transfer, is one of the more high profile names joining the midlands side, in former Bayern Munich midfielder and German international Leon Goretzka.

The 31 year-old joined the Villians after eight years and over 300 appearences for the German giants, following the expiration of his contract with both player and club mutally deciding against an renewal, with Goretzka seeking a new challenge after playing the entirely of his career in his homeland, after coming through the ranks at Bochum and then Schalke before joining Bayern in 2018.

The midifielder was the subject of interest across multple clubs both in and out of Europe, but chose to move to Villa and the Premier League to work with Unai Emery and continue to play in the UEFA Champions League.

A serial winner arrives at B6... 🏆

Aston Villa is delighted to announce the signing of Leon Goretzka 🤩 pic.twitter.com/IW3xcTaPU9

— Aston Villa (@AstonVilla) August 27, 2026

Goretzka of course brings a wealth of experience at the top level to Villa Park, and a trophy haul which would be admired by any player past and present, however unfortbyly for both him, Emery and the Villa fans, Goretzka will have to wait a little while to make his first appearences in Claret and Blue.

After not appearing in Villa's squad for their matches against Arsenal and Hull City, Goretzka announced he had suffered an injury to his knee, which will keep the German out of action until at least October.

In a post on Instagram, Goreztka thanked the Aston Villa for stated "Unfortunately, my body has reacted to the increased workload after my time away from the pitch. It’s frustrating, but I need this short break now to come back at full strength."

The news will come to a heavy blow to Villa, who have also seen Johan Manzambi, a fellow new midfield signing who joined from SC Freiburg for £52 million, has also been kept to the sidelines since his arrivla and is yet to make his Villa debut.

And the news of Gorezska's injury adds to a list of problems facing Emery and Villa right now. As just like a year ago, the Villa Park side have endured a tough start to the new 26/27 Premier League campagin, losing their first two matches before being held to a 0-0 draw away at the MKM Stadium versus Hull City.

Emery's side found themselves on the wrong end of a thrashing in their opening game, going down 4-0 in the first half away at Brighton & Hove Albion, before being beaten 0-1 by Arsenal in their first home match of the season, and again failing to score against Hull, being one of three sides to fail to find the back of the net in their opening three matches of the seasson alongside Coventry City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Brian Madjo's goal against PSG was Aston Villa's last goal.

315 minutes of football ago 🤯#AVFC pic.twitter.com/xc6iPDf20L

— Aston Villa Statto (@AVFCStatto) September 5, 2026

Gorezska's return to action next month will be welcome to Emery and Villa, who will be in need of the 31 year-old's wealth of experience, compsure and leadership in the heart of midifeld as Villa look to turn their poor start to the campagin around.

When Could Goretzka Return For Villa?

The exact time of Goretzka's return to fitness in order to appear for the first time in Claret and Blue is unclear for now, with the German expected back around mid-October, following the first inernational break of the season.

Following on from the break from club football, Villa return to action on 10th October at home to Brentford, who have enjoyed a strong start to the season with five points from three matches. Gorezska could also get his first taste of UEFA Champions League action for the Villians four days later, as Aston Villa host Turkish giants Fenerbache at Villa Park.

Villa's midield has experienced many injory woes already this seasson, with Goretzka and Manzambi joining fellow midfielder Amadou Onana on the sidelines, with the Belgian out of action for much of the season after suffering an ACL injury in pre-season.

WIth that in mind, the German's return will be crucial to Aston Villa's early season form, with the hope being that by the time he is able to take to the pitch, Villa's form will be looking brighter than the opening three weeks, and it won't be too late to achieve the goals they will be after this campagin.