Bouma: Dislocated ankle

Related links

Teams

• Aston Villa

Players

• Wilfred Bouma

Also see

• Villa book Uefa spot
• Villa fixtures
• Villa stats
• Villa forum

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill admits Wilfred Bouma's dislocated ankle is a 'big blow'.

The Dutch defender was stretchered off after only 12 minutes of Villa's Intertoto Cup third round victory over Odense on Saturday following a collision with an opponent.

Initial fears suggested Bouma had suffered a horrific broken leg, however O'Neill has confirmed that the 30-year-old has dislocated his ankle.

Despite admitting his relief that Bouma - who has had his ankle set in plaster - has not fractured his leg, O'Neill recognises the serious extent of the injury and confesses the left-back will be missed.

Serious

"The doctor is back from the hospital and says it's a dislocation," O'Neill told Villa's official website.

"Thankfully the skin isn't broken, which is really good news. They've re-set it and he's now in plaster.

"It's obviously a serious injury to a player who's been playing exceptionally well - he had a great, great season last year and he will be missed.

"The players are going to visit him tonight and we wish him all the very best and the injury is a big blow to us."

Awkward

Meanwhile, O'Neill was delighted to see his side progress to the second qualifying round of the Uefa Cup as a solitary Ashley Young strike was enough to secure a 3-2 aggregate victory over Villa's Danish opponents.

"I'm very pleased," added O'Neill. "We won the game and I think we deserved to, but it was tough.

"They had a couple of chances in the first half and it would have been very awkward for us had they scored. But I felt that we dug in and Ashley came up with a fantastic goal to win the game.

"It was a great, great goal from a great, great player. He's in full control of the ball no matter what pace he's going at. Even in full flight you think he's capable of anything and he came up with a fantastic goal."