View: Watford loan spell could be make or break for Keinan Davis at Aston Villa
Keinan Davis is back in the Championship, this time with Watford after Aston Villa confirmed the striker’s loan move away from Villa Park on Saturday morning.
Watford announced on their official Twitter account on 13 August that Davis, 24, has joined them for the duration of the 2022/23 Championship campaign.
Davis hasn’t been anywhere near the Aston Villa first-team for a while, spending the second half of last season on loan at Nottingham Forest, helping them win promotion to the Premier League.
The Stevenage-born striker scored five times and supplied three assists in 22 appearances in that loan spell at the City Ground but that clearly wasn’t enough to convince Steven Gerrard that he’s Premier League quality.
And that makes sense, really.
Davis will turn 25 in February, meaning that he’s approaching the peak of his career but he’s still treated as a youngster, being sent out on loan to lower league clubs to get experience.
He’s played a lot for Villa’s first-team – 86 times in total – although the majority of those have been as a substitute, which further shows that the striker is viewed as an up-and-comer or a squad player rather than anything else.
But still, Davis has just under two years left on his contract so this loan stint at Watford could make or break him at Villa Park.
Davis’ first task will be to get into Watford’s matchday squads and start impressing from the bench because Joao Pedro is going to take some beating to get into the starting line-up.
If he does get more starts and plays a big role in Watford’s season, then he could have a future at Villa and could get himself a new contract.
But the harsh reality is that is unlikely and Villa are just loaning Davis out because they’ve been unable to sell him this summer and know they’ll have a better chance next year when his contract is 12 months away from expiration.
If Davis tears it up at Watford, that could change.
However, that might be unlikely unless Pedro suffers a lengthy spell on the sidelines that hands the Villa forward the chance to shine.
In other Aston Villa news, in a Villa News exclusive, Ty Bracey has revealed he’s shocked by the news about Douglas Luiz’s contract.