Aston Villa Academy: Unai Emery missed a trick by leaving Kadan Young on bench in FA Cup – view
Although Aston Villa were pitiful in their third-round FA Cup exit to Stevenage on Sunday (8 January), what was more disappointing to see was Unai Emery’s reluctance to give Kadan Young a run-out.
The Villans conceded two comical goals in the dying stages of the third-round encounter, which they led for the most part, thanks to Morgan Sanson’s first goal for the club after half an hour.
However, an 88th-minute penalty from Jamie Read and an injury-time winner from Dean Campbell resigned Emery to his second and certainly most painful defeat since taking the job in the Villa Park dugout.
The Villa team the Spaniard selected was experienced on the whole, but run-outs were given to the likes of Sanson, Jan Bednarek, Leander Dendoncker and Ludwig Augustinsson, who have barely featured in the Premier League this season.
It was, therefore, disappointing to see 16-year-old Young remain untouched throughout the 90 minutes when a dogged Stevenage defence stifled Leon Bailey and Philippe Coutinho to such great effect.
Fans witnessed a laboured and uninspired first 45 minutes at Villa Park, where the home side moved the ball from right to left, and then back again without any real impetus.
After shining in Dubai, it seemed that Young might be the next cab off the rank and could gain some Premier League minutes in the second half of the season.
Of course, there is the argument that you have to take the cup seriously, and you can’t throw youngsters on for the sake of it – but Emery had already made a plethora of changes to his starting XI, so why not make one more?
The teenage sensation has quickly become the shining star of the academy this season, making two starts for the Under-21s and starring cameos in mid-season friendlies against Brighton and Chelsea.
Considering Young only signed a scholarship with the club in July 2022, his rapid rise through the ranks demonstrates just how highly Villa’s hierarchy rates him.
In both brief appearances during the World Cup break, the starlet showed a willingness to run at defenders, and he managed to get in behind opposition back-lines regularly. This was a trait that Villa’s attack sorely missed on Sunday, despite Bailey starting on the right wing and Coutinho looking to carve open opportunities on the left.
Villa fans will hope this isn’t a sign of things to come, and Young will either drop back down to the youth team or be sent out on loan.
He simply can’t continue to sit on the bench unused.
In other Aston Villa news, Ludwig Augustinsson is now surely done at Villa Park under Unai Emery.