Chelsea loanee Ross Barkley returned to action last night for Aston Villa – and some Villa fans on Twitter were encouraged by the display of the midfielder.
Barkley, who was loaned out for the season by Chelsea, recently missed seven consecutive Premier League games due to a hamstring problem.
But the 27-year-old was thrown straight back into the XI on Wednesday night.
The attacking midfielder played 68 minutes on his return to the Villa side, who ended up losing 2-0 away to Manchester City after two late goals for the hosts at the Etihad Stadium.
Barkley started his loan spell at Villa with a couple of goals in his opening two games and will now be hoping to build some real momentum.
A selection of Villa supporters on social media acknowledged that the English playmaker was a little rusty against Man City, on his return from injury, but despite that felt his big presence on the pitch.
Chelsea have numerous stars currently playing out on loan, with Fulham’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek and West Brom’s Conor Gallagher two more examples.
It looks like the trio of Barkley, Loftus-Cheek and Gallagher will be competing for a midfield position next season at Stamford Bridge.
There may not be room for all of them in the Blues squad, so it’ll be interesting to see who fares best in the second half of this season.
Here are some Villa fans discussing Barkley after his midweek display:
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