Aston Villa transfers held back due to rising star Jaden Philogene at Villa Park – Sky Sports journalist
We’re delighted to welcome Sky Sports journalist Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
“Fearless” Jaden Philogene may have been deemed “good enough” to prevent Aston Villa from making more signings, according to Dan Bardell.
After having an excellent and productive pre-season, Philogene has been tipped to get plenty of minutes at Villa Park next season. Unai Emery said, as reported by the Shropshire Star (1 August), that he was the “most positive surprise” of Villa’s tour of the USA.
While Villa have been active in the market, with the signings of Youri Tielemans, Moussa Diaby and Pau Torres, many expected further additions this summer.
However, Bardell has claimed that the 21-year-old is backed by Emery enough that Aston Villa did not feel the need to recruit further.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell said: “I think what’s happened is he’s had a couple of productive loans in the EFL where he would have learned an awful lot. His first half of the season at Stoke, where things weren’t perfect, then at Cardiff where his loan spell went quite well.
“Now, Emery’s obviously stood up and took notice of him. Philogene started the bulk of Villa’s pre-season games. I think he’s taken the opportunities that have been there because Jacob Ramsey’s been injured.
“It may be that that’s one of the reasons Villa haven’t been in as much activity as people thought they would. They may have been looking at a wide player but I think Emery’s probably decided that Philogene is good enough and that he doesn’t need to bring in a wide player.
“He works hard, he’s quite direct. He hasn’t been as finely tuned as perhaps some young footballers who come through the academy set-up, but I think that’s actually a bit of a positive.
“He’s fearless with the ball and he’s prepared to hold on to the ball. One criticism is that he perhaps doesn’t make the right final decision, but he’s got all the raw attributes to be a success at Villa.
“I think he will get football, particularly in the Europa Conference League. While Jacob Ramsey is out, I would certainly expect to see him coming off the bench in league games.
“I don’t think you’ll see him start the first few games, but he’ll definitely be involved in the 20-man squad, and he’ll definitely get minutes.
“He has to grab this opportunity with both hands. He deserves a shot.”
In other Aston Villa news, the Villans must show out-of-favour forward Bertrand Traore the door this summer.