Aston Villa must not sanction Cameron Archer exit after transfer news
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has admitted that young striker Cameron Archer could now depart Villa Park this summer amid plenty of interest.
The 22-year-old has been a consistent feature during Villa’s pre-season tour of America, featuring in all three Premier League Simmer Series matches and looked to be remaining in the Midlands this season having spent last season on-loan in the Championship.
While under Michael Carrick’s stewardship at the Riverside, the striker managed to find the net 11 times in 20 appearances and impressed as England won the U21s won the European Championships, but Emery has now admitted his development may continue elsewhere.
The Spanish manager was quoted by Birmingham Live on Thursday (10 August) as having said: “With Archer, we were playing him in pre-season and we were thinking it could be a possibility to let him go and play and continue improving his level at another club.
“He is our player and we want to keep him under our control always because we believe in him. We have always two options, sometimes on loan, sometimes selling them. We are analysing each case individually and trying to get the best option.”
Loan only
Archer is far too good a prospect for Emery to be considering sanctioning his sale permanently from Villa Park this summer, especially off of the back of such a good campaign in England’s second tier and a strong showing with the national side.
According to his Fbref scouting report, last season Archer was in the top 1% of his positional peers in the division for expected goals, non-penalty goals, assists and expected assisted goals, per 90 minutes that he played, making him one of the biggest goal threats of the division.
He also managed a fairly high amount of touches in the opposition penalty area with an average of 6.12 touches per match in the box, showing that he can find space in the most important areas of the pitch at all times.
Villa currently does have the blessing of several attacking options in their squad, especially in wide areas, but the same isn’t true of in the middle of the park, where Ollie Watkins’ only competition comes from Archer and new signing Jhon Duran.
While Watkins will likely start most weeks, with the Conference League to contend with in the coming season Archer would likely get minutes at Villa Park and provide an extra goal threat to Emery’s side that cannot be sniffed at.
However, if those in charge in the Midlands decide he is better suited to a temporary switch they must ensure it comes in the Premier League as the 22-year-old has proven he is more than good enough for the Championship.
In other Aston Villa news, Burnley have made a new bid for an exciting young talent at Villa Park