Ex-Aston Villa Scout speculates Unai Emery behind-the-scenes changes as ‘number one’ claim made
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery may not be spending enough time looking at the club’s youth system, according to former Villa Park scout Bryan King.
The speculation comes amid the idea that fellow Midlands club West Brom have seen many young talents move to their rivals in recent times.
King also questioned how Aston Villa have fallen in this area in recent times, having won the FA Youth Cup just three years ago.
Speaking to Villa News, King said: “It’s strange because Aston Villa used to have an excellent youth set-up, they really did. In the days of Bryan Jones and Alan Miller, their youth team and youth academy were very, very well run.
“They had Tony McAndrew, who was a former player, a top quality player who was the main coach there, and then there was Gordon Cowans who was involved, another former player. All players who had done big things for the club. And I saw it firsthand when I was at the club that the academy was well run and they had a good grip on players, not only in the Midlands area but the whole of Great Britain, and also Europe.
“When I look at a club with a foreign coach… do they spend enough time looking and working with the youth team or the academy? I remember when John Gregory was there, Graham Taylor was there, there was great emphasis on the youth team.
“Villa have always been the number one in recruitment in that area, as far as I was concerned, even the second time when I went back to Villa. They have a big recruitment net.
“It’d be interesting to see whether a team from the Black Country – Wolves, Villa, West Brom, Birmingham City – have produced the results at youth level. The last FA Youth Cup final I went to was Aston Villa against Everton. That’s when Wayne Rooney played for Everton. Villa had a good team as well, they had some good kids in the side.
“I think it might be the connection that West Brom have obviously got and are working very hard in the area. But what would Aston Villa have done with an academy group that won the FA Youth Cup three years ago? Have they moved them all out and brought these new guys in? What was the reason for that? Was that Monchi’s doing or was it Emery who wanted to change? I couldn’t imagine he would have a great knowledge about youth football around the Midlands.”
Aston Villa struggling at youth level?
It seems that Villa may just be behind the likes of West Brom when it comes to producing young talent. But their recent exploits prove that they still have what it takes to acquire such players from their Midlands rivals.
Emery certainly has plenty of exciting youngsters at his disposal at Villa Park, with the likes of attacker Jacob Ramsey and midfielder Tim Iroegbunam available, while Morgan Rogers has recently joined from Middlesbrough.
In other Aston Villa news, one Villa man had a 25% flop in the recent loss to Manchester United, with Gary Neville dubbing him “wasteful” live on Sky Sports.
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