Aston Villa could be sleepwalking into Gary Cahill mistake with future of Sil Swinkels
Aston Villa are set to wield the axe on some of their academy’s brightest talents this week, but they must be careful they don’t make an all-to-familiar mistake with the future of centre-back Sil Swinkels.
As reported by The Athletic (13 April), the club are expected to release academy quartet Brad Young, Arjan Raikhy, Hayden Lindley and Declan Frith from the Bodymoor Heath set-up, with further decisions on personnel set to be made over the coming days.
And Swinkels, who has been a shining light for the academy this term and was subsequently named on Unai Emery’s bench to face Manchester City in February, could be one of the names considered for the chopping block after sustaining a torn ACL recently.
Injury Expert Dr Rajpal Brar exclusively told Villa News that the 19-year-old could be out for up to nine months, with his earliest expected return to the pitch coming in October of this year.
However, the club must be wary of falling into the same trap as they did when selling an academy graduate by the name of Gary Cahill in 2008.
Two Premier League titles, two FA Cups, a League Cup, a Europa League and a Champions League is certainly a glittering career for any footballer, and all of these were unfortunately won away from Villa Park.
The move to sell Cahill to Bolton Wanderers for £5million has gone down as one of Aston Villa’s greatest transfer mistakes, and there are some striking similarities to the case of Swinkels.
Both centre-backs have garnered reputations at youth level through their aerial presence from set-pieces in both boxes, while still possessing a dexterity on the ball and a strong passing range that is hard to find in the game.
At the time when Cahill was in the West Midlands, he was beneath the likes of Olof Mellberg, Martin Laursen and Curtis Davies in the pecking order at Villa Park, much like Swinkels is with Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Diego Carlos – with both being considered the next cab of the rank.
Hopefully, the club will keep Swinkels on the books while his rehabilitation takes place over the coming months, and then they can come to an informed decision on his future once back on the grass.
Given what Cahill went on to achieve later down the line away from Villa Park, you can’t help but feel the club may be sleepwalking into a Déjà vu with the future of Swinkels.
In other Aston Villa news, we can exclusively reveal that Manchester United are set to sign this highly-rated Villa player.