Aston Villa’s Wilfred Bouma has suffered an horrific injury in today’s Intertoto victory over Odense and now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Bouma sustained the injury after just 15 minutes of the game and was immediately omitted to hospital with a suspected broken leg. Early news from Villa however indicates that the left-back has in fact dislocated his right ankle.

That offers a better prognosis but Bouma is nonetheless likely to be sidelined for around 4 months. That will be a major cause for concern for O’Neill. Gareth Barry came off the bench to replace Bouma but his future is still very much in doubt. Villa must surely now go shopping for a left-back.

Bouma played every Premiership match for Villa last season and this is likely to be a major blow to their defensive stability just weeks before the season kick-off.