Aston Villa frustration emerges as Omari Kellyman completes summer Chelsea transfer
Alan Hutton has admitted that he is frustrated Aston Villa have continued their recent trend of selling youth prospects following Omari Kellyman’s exit.
The 18-year-old, who only made six competitive appearances for the Villans over the last two years, followed Tim Iroegbunam out of the Villa Park exit door on Saturday (29 June) as his summer move to Chelsea was confirmed.
Enzo Maresca’s side spent a reported £19million to bring Kellyman to Stamford Bridge this summer [BBC Sport, 29 June] a fee which is expected to help Unai Emery’s Villans navigate the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations.
Although Hutton understands that the financial fair play rules will have forced Villa into this sale, he believes that those in charge at Villa Park should be doing more to promote academy products into the first team.
“I go back to when I left,” Hutton exclusively told Villa News.
“The whole thing around Villa and how they were changing was that they were putting a lot of money into the youth system, they wanted to bring the best players in, bring them through and show them the pathway to the first team.
“It seems like they’re getting to a certain stage and then we’re cashing in on them and they’re moving on. I get it to a certain extent, especially with the accounts having to be in at the end of June because they’re trying to balance the books.
“But I would like to see these guys break into the first team at Aston Villa and show what they can do. That being said, these fees are big. £19million for a guy you spent £600,000 on two seasons ago that’s hardly kicked a ball, there won’t be many teams that are going to turn that down.
“Ultimately, it is a shame to see a talented player leave, but he has a six-year contract at Chelsea. Will he go there and get lost? Or does he have the ability to get into the first team?
“We’ll have to wait and see but it is a difficult one.”
Will Aston Villa face PSR issues after Omari Kellyman’s exit to Chelsea?
It is clear to see that Villa have been hamstrung by PSR in the early stages of the transfer window and while they would have liked to have keep both Kellyman and Douglas Luiz, balancing the books is a priority.
Villa have been reliant on the sales of homegrown players over the last couple of summers to remain within FFP limits. Last summer both Cameron Archer and Aaron Ramsey departed Villa Park for the exact same reason.
Although it is disappointing to not see these players be given a fair crack of the whip in Emery’s first team, it is unlikely to change until the Premier League make some much-needed alterations to their rules.
Hopefully, Villa will be able to spend the remainder of their summer adding to their squad rather than losing other key players.
In other Aston Villa news, Villa have been backed to replace Douglas Luiz with Amadou Onana after a new transfer update at Juventus
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