View: Flurry of late Aston Villa loan exits in January highlight academy brimming with talent
Aston Villa may not have had a busy transfer window at the first-team level, but the academy was hard at work finding the best fits for a number of up-and-coming stars.
Deadline day loan moves for Aaron Ramsey to Middlesbrough and Lamare Bogarde to Joey Barton’s Bristol Rovers capped off an extremely successful window for several younger players at the club – with a host of names now plying their trade in the football league.
The likes of Cameron Archer, Louie Barry, Caleb Chukwuemeka, Finn Azaz and Ben Chrisene are also all out on respective loans until the end of the season as they look to make the next steps in their careers.
The fact of the matter is that Villa simply couldn’t promise first-team football to any of these names in the second half of the season, while minutes at the youth team level would do little to further their development.
Azaz is the perfect example of the improvements young players can gain while on loan, with the 22-year-old excelling at League One leaders Plymouth Argyle so far this season. His six goals and six assists in 17 games is the benchmark for many of these academy graduates to look up to in the second half of the season.
From a larger viewpoint, though, the high number of young players who Villa are able to send out on loan highlights just how successful their academy has been in recent years.
A number of these players were part of the 2021 FA Youth Cup winning team but now need to bridge the gap to the first team.
There is no point in having an academy if it doesn’t supply your first team with homegrown players, so such loans are a necessary step in the process.
Hopefully, the likes of Azaz and Archer, in particular, can continue to thrive away from Villa Park this season and put themselves in contention for a significant role under Unai Emery next season.
With this long list of players out in the football league and Villa’s Under-21 side still continuing to thrive in Premier League 2 Division 2, Bodymoor Heath academy is looking as fruitful as ever.
In other Aston Villa news, Carla Ward must find a contingency plan in case Rachel Daly gets injured for her side this season.