View: Unai Emery has blocked development of Kadan Young at Aston Villa with post-January treatment
There was much hope from Aston Villa fans that the short-term future of teenage sensation Kadan Young would be wrapped up in January, but it still remains unclear where he stands.
The 17-year-old has risen through the ranks of the academy at a rapid rate this season, featuring for the first team in the mid-season Dubai training camp and signing his first professional contract with the club shortly afterwards.
However, when the January transfer window arrived, it looked as though Young wasn’t warranted a loan move into the football league due to Villa’s lack of squad depth, in particular in attack. Unai Emery signed Colombian forward Jhon Duran, but the sale of Danny Ings and the loaning of Cameron Archer had left a spot available for Young to fill in the match-day squad.
When transfer deadline day rolled around though, Villa seemed to make a snap decision not to trust in the young English winger and instead recall Bertrand Traore from his loan at Istanbul Basaksehir FK to bulk out Emery’s squad.
For many fans, this would have come as a great disappointment, with the highly-touted Young impressing during his brief cameos against Brighton and Chelsea in Dubai, and looking like a player who was made for the big occasion.
With Traore only making it onto the bench for the club’s most recent Premier League match against Arsenal, and not even featuring, it raises yet further questions about the decision-making on transfer deadline day.
If the club had acted quicker and knew they wanted to recall the former Chelsea player, they could have struck an agreement for Young to go out on loan for the remainder of the season and ply his trade in the football league.
As it is, the skilful winger has had to make do with a run of games for the Under-21s in recent weeks – starting in the Young Lions’ 2-1 loss to Leeds on Monday evening (20 February).
Villa fans will hope that Young continues his growth at Bodymoor Heath in the coming months, but a loan move away from the club would arguably have been a far better use of his time. If Emery doesn’t plan on using Young in his first-team squad next season, the club must ensure they secure a loan move for the starlet in the summer.
In other Aston Villa news, the club want to reunite with a former player for a fee in excess of £40million in the summer.