Unai Emery shares what he told Aston Villa player he wanted to sell after win v Nottingham Forest

Aston Villa fans were fearing the worst when Pau Torres was substituted off for Calum Chambers at half-time during the 4-2 win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Not because the Englishman was coming onto the pitch, but because many were fearing their star summer signing had suffered yet another injury.

Thankfully, according to Unai Emery, there doesn’t seem to be much to worry about, it was a precautionary sub because Pau Torres felt ‘pain’ in the back of his leg.

On that, the Aston Villa boss shared his thoughts on Calum Chambers’ performance and how he could have left during the January transfer window, as he told Birmingham Live.

That was well-documented, but the 29-year-old stayed put and he was told by his manager ‘you are here now to help us practice and in case we need you, you need to be ready to play’.

And ready he was! Even though he has hardly played this season, with zero minutes in the Premier League before Forest and just 178 minutes in Europe, then he did very well given the circumstances he has been in.

Unai Emery shared how Calum Chambers was ‘very important’ and how, after 15 minutes, the team were ‘comfortable’ and ‘dominating’ the match alongside him.

Calum Chambers v Nottingham Forest

“Of course, when Calum Chambers stayed here after the transfer window, I told him ‘you are here now to help us practice and in case we need you, you need to be ready to play’,” said Emery.

“He played the second half and he was very important. The team felt in the second half after the first 15 minutes comfortable and dominating the match as well with him.”

Pau Torres’ injury

Fingers crossed, it’s just a case of the Aston Villa medical staff being cautious with Torres because he has only returned after a few months out.

Plus, Tyrone Mings, Diego Carlos and Ezri Konsa are injured, with the return of the latter two still unknown

So, the last thing we need is for Torres to drop again, especially with the knockout stages of Europe returning, that clash with Ajax on the horizon, as well as that important top-four clash against Tottenham.

Certain players in this team need to be wrapped in cotton wool and Torres is certainly one of them.