Aston Villa star suffering ‘harsh’ treatment amid tribunal verdict: ‘Let’s not forget…’

Aston Villa fans should not be expecting young winger Brian Madjo to immediately become a key figure in Unai Emery’s plans. 

That is according to former Villa chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that patience must be shown with the 17-year-old when he comes into the Premier League. 

The second city outfit are still awaiting the outcome of their appeal against Madjo’s registration ruling, which dictates that he cannot play a competitive game for the club until he turns 18 in January. 

Wyness believes that the English-born starlet has been harshly treated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but has warned that fans must “temper expectations” of what the youngster will produce when he is cleared to play. 

Madjo has impressed for Villa so far in pre-season, and had supporters raving when he netted a brace in the 5-0 win over Walsall earlier in July. 

The former Metz man is tipped to have a huge future ahead of him, but Wyness has outlined that patience will be needed in terms of his development. 

Brian Madjo won’t be ‘thrown in’ straight away

Villa’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Villa Park between 2016 and 2018 and now runs a consultancy business advising elite clubs – believes that Emery and his staff cannot continually throw Madjo in at the deep end when he joins up with the first-team squad. 

The Scottish businessman is adamant that the forward will need to be used sporadically in the early stages, until he can truly find his feet at senior level. 

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness tried to bring Villa fans back down to earth over their emerging talent. 

“Well, you can imagine the excitement from Villa fans, a 17-year-old winger like this with talent scoring in pre-season, everybody's excited to think he's the next great thing that's coming,” he said.

“No doubt he's obviously got talent, but they've got to wait and we've got to temper expectations until we find out the outcome of that tribunal.

“Look, I personally think he's going to be waiting until January to get into the squad and even then he isn’t going to be thrown into the game straight away. I think he's going to be coming on as an impact sub.

“You can't throw a 17-year-old like that into full-time Premier League football continually right at the start. So you've got to try and blood him first of all. It's going to be difficult.

“If it has to wait till January, then I think he's been harshly treated, but the rules are the rules. He's an exciting young talent, but I think he's going to take some time to adjust. A pre-season at Walsall isn't the Premier League. Let's not forget that.”

Keith Wyness explains chance of successful Aston Villa appeal

Wyness previously told Football Insider earlier in July that Villa may be successful in their appeal against Madjo’s delayed registration if they argue that the CAS’ decision is a “restraint on trade” for the starlet. 

He argued that the rapid emergence of the likes of Rio Ngumoha and Max Dowman means it is no longer a “ridiculous argument” to suggest that U18 talents are ready to contribute at Premier League level.

He has also called for CAS to “see sense” on the issue, and allow his former club to register Madjo ahead of the new season getting underway. 

However, at the moment, Madjo will have to wait until January to make his Premier League debut.