Aston Villa likely to loan out Tim Iroegbunam, but delay decision – report
Aston Villa midfielder Tim Ireogbunam may be allowed to leave the club on loan this summer but the decision won’t be made soon, Express & Star reports.
In addition to regular appearances for the Villans under-23s side the 19-year-old had broken into the first team with three substitute outings in the Premier League in 2021/22.
After arriving from West Brom last summer he joined Carney Chukwuemeka, 18, as poster boys for youth opportunities at the club.
But the younger man ultimately established himself the better, and with the signing of Boubacar Kamara already in this window Iroegbunam’s opportunities look set to be limited.
In that context it is believed that a loan move for the upcoming season “looks the most likely outcome”, but manager Steven Gerrard wants to assess the whole squad in preseason before the final decision is made.
Development
The teenager may have fallen foul of the issue that crops up regularly at top clubs who can spend heavily on prized transfer targets.
The pathway to the first team can get blocked by ready-made stars, and with ambitions clearly high in that direction at Villa Park he might now need to look elsewhere for first-team action at a crucial age in his development.
Spending wasn’t exactly light last summer with the major influx of cash from the Jack Grealish sale funding the arrivals of Emi Buendia, Danny Ings and Leon Bailey, bit it was a different side he joined under Dean Smith.
Kamara is a highly-rated free agent pick-up and is likely to have immediately jumped above him in the pecking order, although the potential exit of Douglas Luiz would even the picture out.
Even so, he will need more senior football than he finished with in the previous season so a temporary move is probably a good bet either way.
Unless he can make some significant strides over the summer and convince Gerrard he has a first team role to play immediately he is likely to face the challenge of impressing his boss from afar, which is easier said than done.
In other Aston Villa news, the women’s team have confirmed the Chloe Arthur will leave.