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Jacob Ramsey is like a man reborn at Aston Villa after finally overcoming years of injury setbacks.
Ramsey enjoyed two phenomenal breakthrough campaigns between 2021 and 2023 but saw his progress stunted in the season and a half that followed.
The versatile attacking midfielder missed a staggering 36 matches throughout 2023/24 due to four separate injury struggles. Just as he came back from a metatarsal fracture, he suffered yet another foot injury before pulling his hamstring and later breaking a toe.
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The academy product simply couldn’t catch a break - and his woes carried over into the start of the current campaign as he sustained yet another hamstring issue - but he’s finally been able to put together a run of form comparable to that of his initial rise to the senior team.
Doubters emerged during Ramsey’s worst days but the playmaker has since been able to prove them wrong. It appears 2025 could well be the 23-year-old’s year as he has notched three goals and three assists in 10 starts since January 1.
“To be fair it’s been coming for quite a while,” Ramsey reflected after scoring a stunning solo goal in Villa’s 3-0 FA Cup quarter-final win at Preston.
“I spoke after the Celtic game and I felt then it was coming, it’s so hard coming back from injury after injury. You feel like you are getting there and then you get another niggle.
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“I always think for an attacking player to get that sharpness back it takes a bit longer than it does for a defender. If you look at Bouba (Kamara) – he was out for a year with a big injury and he came back like he’d never been away.
“For me, last year I was out and then the start of this season I was still not feeling great. But that Celtic game was probably the turning point. So fingers crossed now that I can keep going.”
Unai Emery’s priority crystal clear - albeit controversial
Ramsey is eager to continue his progression in tandem with Villa, now FA Cup semi-finalists and preparing for a two-legged Champions League quarter-final bout with Paris Saint-Germain.
It won’t be easy for Ramsey to hold his place in the XI with Ollie Watkins back to fitness and Marcus Rashford bound to regularly occupy the left flank, but the opportunity is there to make Emery feel like he’s indispensable.
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With two pieces of silverware potentially up for grabs and Villa so desperate to end their 29-year wait for a trophy, it’d make sense to prioritise the FA Cup and Champions League. That’s not the way Emery sees it, however, with Ramsey explaining the manager is instead focusing on the bigger picture.
On Villa’s objectives, Ramsey added: “The next two months need to be our best two months of the season. That’s what the boss keeps saying – we’ve got big games in the Champions League against PSG. But also the games this week against Brighton and Forest – they are massive games for us trying to get back in the Champions League next season.
“Even in pre-season, the boss made it very clear the Premier League is the main goal. The other competitions come after. As players you love playing in the Champions League and you always want to be focused, but the boss is so good at reminding us – what we do in the Champions League this year doesn’t matter if we don’t qualify for next year. So for us players it’s the Premier League.”
Meanwhile, Emery has confirmed Villa’s bold approach to signing Rashford permanently.