Villarreal suffer big blow as key player is ruled out of Europa League final vs Manchester United

Published: May 25, 2021

Villarreal manager Unai Emery has confirmed that Samuel Chukwueze has been ruled out of Wednesday night's Europa League final against Manchester United at the Gdansk Stadium in Poland.

The Nigeria international was in the traveling party to Poland but has failed a fitness test twenty-four hours before the final.

This is the worst possible news for the Yellow Submarine as Chukwueze has been one of their key players in the Europa League, having contributed to five goals spread across eleven matches.

The Super Eagles star has not figured for the La Liga side since sustaining an injury to the rectus anterior during the first half of the goalless draw against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium nineteen days ago, missing four consecutive matches against Celta de Vigo, Real Valladolid, Sevilla and Real Madrid in the Spanish top-flight.

On Monday evening, the Nigeria Football Federation indicated that all was not well with Chukwueze by omitting him from the finalized roster for the upcoming international friendly against Cameroon.

Speaking to reporters at the pre-match press conference, Emery said : "Samu has not been able to recover in time from the injury, but Foyth is fully available".

The 22-year-old Chukwueze did not participate in full training with the rest of his Villarreal teammates on Tuesday.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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