View: Cameron Archer must be unleashed by Aston Villa boss Unai Emery
Although Aston Villa made some high-profile signings in the summer transfer window, the re-acquisition of Cameron Archer could go down as the club’s best piece of business.
The 20-year-old starlet penned a new five-year-deal in the West Midlands after being subject to loan offers from several Championship clubs including QPR and West Brom.
After making his debut for the club in 2019, the forward was quickly labelled as the brightest talent among a host of burgeoning youngsters including Aaron Ramsey, Tim Iroegbunam and Kaine Kesler Hayden.
He netted a hattrick in his debut season in the Carabao Cup, before being loaned out to Preston North End last season where he was again mightily impressive, scoring seven goals in 20 appearances – and in turn earning himself a call-up to the England Under-21 setup.
Under the Steven Gerrard regime, the striker was seemingly given false promises as the ex-Liverpool legend refused countless offers for the youngster to leave, labelling Archer as an integral part of his short-term plans at the club.
But in between a dire run of form, a couple of niggling injuries, and Gerrard’s sacking, Archer played just 36 minutes of football for The Villans and as a result is still yet to find the target this season.
Now that Unai Emery has entered the Villa Park dugout, Archer can be offered a fresh opportunity to reignite his career and get back to what he does best. Scoring goals.
The new Villa manager is historically willing to offer exciting prospects their chance in the senior team, with the ex-Gunners boss handing debuts to Arsenal stars Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe.
And when asked about the youth prospects that he possesses at Aston Villa in his first press conference at the club, the Spaniard said: “To play with young players to give them chance to play, is when you are sure they are going to get the performance with you work and I made with a lot of teams.
“Here we have a very good academy and good young players and of course, my point of view about this club is to improve with experienced players and with young players as well.”
Having featured from the bench in Villa’s 2-1 victory over Brighton on Sunday 13 November, Archer will be looking to show Emery his natural goal-scoring prowess over the World Cup break, as he looks to push himself into the Spaniard’s plans.
With the start of a fresh regime comes new beginnings, and it is now time for Emery to thrust Archer into the limelight and unleash this potent finisher on a Premier League stage.
In other news, Aston Villa master the dark arts in 2-1 victory over Brighton.