Rémi Garde accepts need to wait to bring assistants to Aston Villa

Rémi Garde has not given up hope of bringing Gérald Baticle and Bruno Génésio, who were his assistant managers at Lyon, to Aston Villa but the Premier League club are planning to do without them in the short term and accept they may have to wait until well into next year to get either man.

Garde, who will take charge of his first game as the Villa manager against Manchester City on Sunday, has been able to recruit Robert Duverne as the fitness coach. Duverne worked under Gérard Houllier at Villa and has rejoined the club after Metz released him from his contract because of a verbal agreement.

The situation at Lyon is nothing like as straightforward, with Baticle and Génésio under contract and the French club not willing to enter into talks about them joining Villa or discuss compensation. Villa do not regard that as final, with Garde keen to be reunited with them, but the club’s hierarchy sees little value in aggressively pursuing the pair when Jean-Michel Aulas, the Lyon president, has adopted such a stubborn stance.

As long as there is no progress on that front – and Villa are aware that nothing could change until the end of the season – there remains the possibility that Garde, who has brought in Reginald Ray from Bastia to work as his No2, will add another name to his backroom staff, if only on a short-term basis.

Duverne’s appointment at Villa was confirmed by Bernard Serin, the Metz president: “When Robert joined us in August 2014, I gave him my word we would let him leave if he were to receive a proposal for a Premier League club to be part of the technical staff of Rémi Garde. The conditions are now fulfilled and a word is a word. We will end the contract by mutual agreement. We thank Robert Duverne for his services over the past year and wish him success in his new British adventure.”