Goalkeeper Zion Suzuki will be more available to Aston Villa this season after the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia was postponed because of a series of deadly attacks on the host country.

The 24-team tournament was scheduled to take place from 7 January to 5 February but has been rescheduled to run from 23 December 2027 to 21 January 2028.

Japan would have been one of the favourites for the tournament and Villa, who are in the Champions League, might have had to do without Suzuki - assuming he would have been selected - for at least seven games if his country had reached the final.

In October, a missile attack by Yemen's Houthi movement on Riyadh's airport killed 13 people and wounded more than 300.

A statement from the the Asian Football Confederation said the decision to reschedule had been taken "in light of the current exceptional circumstances arising from developments in the region, including substantial logistical complexities and travel disruptions".

This is the second successive Asian Cup to be postponed after the 2023 tournament was moved to 2024 and to Qatar from China because of the Covid pandemic.