(Credit: Imago)

Evan Shaw

Fri 27 March 2026 12:27, UK

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Aston Villa fans are in disbelief after Jadon Sancho picked up an injury during their team’s friendly with Elche on Friday.

The Villans were beaten 2-1 by the La Liga strugglers in Spain on Friday, with Pau Torres scoring for the Premier League side, but the game was overshadowed by the injury to Sancho.

The winger fell awkwardly during the first half of the friendly game and was forced off the field with his arm in a sling after receiving treatment from the physio.

Unai Emery has called upon the 26-year-old more regularly in recent weeks, and he has notched assists in each of his last two competitive matches.

Aston Villa’s injury list already has Boubacar Kamara as a long-term absentee, and Sancho now looks set to join the Frenchman in the treatment room.

Aston Villa fans seething over ‘stupid friendly’

Villa’s clash with Elche has clearly been set up with the view of ensuring the players who are not away on international duty can retain their sharpness ahead of the upcoming Europa League quarter-final against Bologna.

However, things haven’t gone to plan for the coaching staff, with a key player in Sancho picking up what could be a potentially serious injury.

The wideman’s injury is a shoulder problem, according to Villa Report via their X account, and fans have wasted no time in making their frustrations known.

Supporters have piled into the replies to vent their anger towards the fact that the friendly is even being played, not least that the team is made up entirely of first-team players.

One fan questioned the point of playing the “stupid” friendly, while another labelled the decision to play the game as “awful.”

Another Villa fan branded the club’s injury record as “beyond ridiculous,” while the game itself was also called “absolutely pointless.”

• @Ned_AV: “Why are we adding more games in when we know half our players are made of glass?”
• @ajbyrne_avfc: “Why did I have a bad feeling about this friendly man.”
• @gsbrn1: “Was absolutely odds-on someone gets injured, wished I could have got a bet on.”

Jadon Sancho may have played his final game for Villa

Football Insider revealed back in February that Sancho would be keen to return to Borussia Dortmund this summer, if his former club materialises their current interest in him.

Villa are also interested in signing him permanently when he leaves Manchester United as a free agent in the summer, but Dortmund will provide daunting competition if they opt to make a move.

The season is now at the stage where Sancho’s injury could potentially rule him out until the summer if it is relatively serious, with something like a dislocated shoulder likely to take several weeks to properly recover from.

With that in mind, it is entirely possible that he could have played his final game for Villa ahead of his loan spell coming to a close at the end of the campaign, which would be a gutting outcome for all parties.

Sancho has begun to make an effective impact for the second city outfit in recent months, and as a result, Emery and Co. will be desperately hoping that his injury isn’t as bad as it looks.