Bruno Fernandes has supported Jadon Sancho after the Aston Villa loanee made his comeback following a spell on the sidelines with illness. The winger was handed a starting berth for Villa in their Europa League clash with Go Ahead Eagles on Thursday night.

That appearance marked his first outing since their opening fixture of the competition's league phase at home to Bologna in late September. He sat on the bench unused for their subsequent Premier League encounter with Fulham.

Sancho was then absent for the next two matches against Burnley and Feyenoord. He made his return to the matchday squad for their first fixture following the international break before earning a starting spot away in the Netherlands.

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"Good to be back out there on the pitch with the boys after a lil set back due to illness," Sancho wrote in a post on Friday. That marked his first social media update for just over a month since one following their 1-1 draw with Sunderland.

Bruno Fernandes, Ethan Wheatley, Joe Hugill, Marcus Rashford, Shea Lacey and Tyrell Malacia all showed their support by liking the post. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jesse Lingard also gave it their approval, alongside former Chelsea team-mates Pedro Neto and Tosin Adarabioyo.

Current Villa colleague Ian Maatsen chipped in with a red heart emoji. Manuel Akanji similarly reached out, responding with a folded hands emoji and a brown heart emoji.

Sancho has featured four times for Villa since joining on loan. Just one of those, a brief substitute appearance in the aforementioned draw at Sunderland, came in the Premier League.

Two of his appearances were in the Europa League. Another was in their League Cup third-round clash against Brentford.

His four matches have amounted to just over 180 minutes. To put it into perspective, that's more than Noussair Mazraoui has clocked up for United this season, but less than Kobbie Mainoo.

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