Andre Green aiming to kick-on after injury frustration and become Aston Villa goal hero

The 20-year-old winger is desperate to make up for lost time and aiming to hit double figures in the goal column, having missed most of last season through injury.

Green looked set to play a major role for his boyhood club after starting the campaign impressively but a serious hamstring injury, which required surgery, kept him out of action from September onward. Now fully recovered, he is eager to start fulfilling his undoubted potential.

Green said: “This year is the year that I really need to get going and make up for last year.

“I was confident last year at the start of the season that I was going to do good things.

“That confidence brought me out of myself and made me the best player I could be, so it was frustrating to get injured, but I’m over it now.”

Green watched from the sidelines as Villa came within a whisker or a return to the Premier League, losing out to Fulham in the play-off final.

“The whole process of putting the tracksuit or the suit on and knowing you’re not playing, having to watch from the box, it’s just horrible,” he said. “Every player wants to be out there in front of the fanbase we’ve got at Villa. It was hard to be honest with you.

“I had to help myself off the pitch with people around me, the people I love around me, it was really hard. I’m doing everything I can now to get over that.”

Green has certainly served indication he means business during pre-season, scoring in Villa’s 3-1 defeat to West Ham last week before bagging both goals in a 2-1 win at Dynamo Dresden.

Despite opening his senior account with a stunning strike against Norwich last August, Green admits improving his finishing has been a chief focus as he aims to get his name regularly on the scoresheet this term.

“I think goals-wise I want to look for double figures this year and just get into the right position, where I need to be and hopefully take my chances,” he said.

“I’m working a lot on my finishing this year in training. Hopefully I’ll come back and look at this interview at the end of the season!

“I’ve worked on my coolness in front of goal. Last year when I was missing chances, I think that was down to the fact I was getting excited.

“It’s because I was starting games at 19 and getting a bit ahead of myself. I thought I’d scored before I actually put it in the net, so I think that now I’ve had that year behind me I can actually just focus.

“I can think ‘you’re not a kid no more, you need to start focusing on every little thing’.”