Andrew Maddox

Thu 23 June 2022 22:00, UK

Aston Villa have an abundance of bright young stars in their academy and several of them are ready to take that step into senior football.

The 2021/22 season saw the likes of Cameron Archer and Tim Iroegbunam all make successful transitions to senior football at Villa.

While they didn’t make their debuts last season, Josh Feeney, Lamare Bogarde, Ben Chrisene and Tommi O’Reilly all made several first-team squads.

Villa are also on the verge of adding Scottish stars Rory Wilson and Ewan Simpson to their youth ranks, adding to the arrival of Kerr Smith in January.

Finally, Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Finn Azaz and Filip Marschall all impressed out on loan.

All of these players and more are set to have strong seasons in 2022/23, whether at Villa or out on loan.

Who will shine the brightest?

The one name on everybody’s lips right now is Archer, with the young striker dazzling fans of both Villa and Preston North End.

He racked up 20 goal contributions against senior opposition last season and recently scored four goals in just 141 minutes for England Under-21s.

Archer has a long list of admirers, but it is believed that Steven Gerrard wants to keep him around for preseason before deciding on a loan.

Fans of Queens Park Rangers could be seeing Iroegbunam next season, with former Villa assistant Michael Beale being keen to loan him in [Birmingham Live].

Iroegbunam started to break into the Villa team towards the end of last season and impressed fans, mainly coming off the bench.

Kesler-Hayden was so impressive last season, he won Swindon Town’s Young Player of the Year despite leaving in January.

He headed to MK Dons for the second half of the season and impressed again, so he could make the step to the Championship next season.

League Two fans will already be familiar with Azaz after he won the league’s Young Player of the Year Award last season and he will likely go out on loan again.

Talented winger Jaden Philogene-Bidace will likely head out on loan again after a mixed spell at Stoke City last season.

Marschall won promotion from the National League North with Gateshead last season and could make his EFL break next season.

Louie Barry found consistent football at Swindon after a difficult spell with Ipswich and could look to move back to League One next season.

The likes of Bogarde, O’Reilly, Feeney and Chrisene will likely be sticking around as important backup for next season.

In other Aston Villa news, the representatives of Douglas Luiz have met with AC Milan ahead of a possible transfer.