Former Aston Villa defender Alan Hutton has revealed why Yannick Bolasie’s loan spell at Villa Park didn’t go to plan.
The Everton winger and current Sporting Lisbon loanee spent the first six months of last season on loan in the Midlands before he decided to exercise a break clause in his contract in January, returning to Everton where he was then loaned out again, this time to Anderlecht in Belgium.
Though Bolasie showed what Hutton called “flashes of brilliance”, the DR Congo international struggled to consistently impress in the Championship, a division that he should realistically have torn to shreds.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Hutton has revealed that complications with Bolasie recovery from a lengthy injury caused him to struggle to find his footing for the Villans, with the forward having not fully recovered from a previously ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
Hutton had this to say on Bolasie’s time under Steve Bruce:
He turned up off the back of a serious injury and we always knew it was going to take him time, so he did, he tried to take his time with it but you’re not going to be right for a season off those sort of injuries.
I think everybody just thought he was going to turn up and just, ‘bang’, be the guy he used to be and it’s difficult. It was hard for him.
I mean he showed flashes, he definitely did, he showed flashes of brilliance but it didn’t quite work out how we wanted.
Bolasie was labelled as surplus to requirements in the summer, and whether he remains with Sporting or not beyond this season, the forward’s time as an Everton player appears close to coming to an end.
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This does seem to track in my mind because on a surface level, Bolasie should have done some serious damage in the Championship so there should have been a reason why it didn’t quite work that way for him.
It is often said that when you suffer an injury as severe as the one Bolasie was put through, you never truly recover to the same level that you were at before, and that very much seemed to be the case for Bolasie.
I don’t think it has anything to do with Everton not waiting for him to be fully fit either, I don’t think that is what Hutton is saying. Bolasie was fully fit, but due to the nature of the injury, the winger couldn’t get over certain hurdles to reach the required level. Unfortunate circumstance, sure, but certainly not malpractice from the club.
