Rémi Garde has revealed he wants to bring Mathieu Debuchy to Aston Villa and confirmed Adama Traoré is out until March. The Arsenal right-back Debuchy could to be allowed to leave this month and Garde has spoken to Arsène Wenger about the possibility of a move.
Debuchy, 30, has made just seven appearances for Arsenal this season and has played only twice in the Premier League.
“I had a conversation with Arsène a few days ago about some of the players and Mathieu Debuchy was among these players,” said Garde, who played under Wenger at Arsenal. “It’s too early and it won’t help me or anyone to go forward in this style to make too many more comments.”
Garde refused to talk further about Loic Rémy after conceding he understood why the Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink was unhappy with his public statement of interest last week and insisted Jack Grealish will not go out on loan after being linked with Leeds.
Garde has suffered another injury blow with the winger Traoré ruled out for up to 10 weeks with a broken foot after he limped off in last week’s 3-1 defeat at Sunderland.
Garde added: “It’s a big blow, not more, not less, than every other player. When you lose a player for 10 weeks it is huge. I wouldn’t underestimate what he can give to the team, he has a profile that can be very spectacular.”
The Frenchman has also sent the defender Tiago Ilori back to Liverpool after a disappointing spell at Villa. He arrived on loan in the summer for £1m with Villa prepared to pay a further £6m to make the deal permanent if he was a success.
But the 22-year-old failed to play under either Tim Sherwood or Garde and has returned to Liverpool, where the manager Jürgen Klopp is desperate for defensive reinforcements.
“He has gone back. The player was not happy about his situation at this football club and not playing,” Garde said. “When I arrived he was not totally fit, I don’t know exactly what happened between August and the beginning of November. He was not always injured but he trained with me. It was my decision and he’s gone back to Liverpool.”
Alan Hutton and Carlos Sánchez (both hamstring) and Gabby Agbonlahor (back) are also due to miss Villa’s FA Cup trip to Wycombe on Saturday.