Sil Swinkels: Unai Emery will like what he sees as Aston Villa chance beckons

Sil Swinkels enjoyed an impressive loan spell with Chesterfield last season, potentially throwing himself an Aston Villa lifeline.

The 22-year-old defender joined Aston Villa's academy system in the summer of 2020, after starting his football journey in his homeland of the Netherlands.

Swinkels made his first-team debut in January 2021, after an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Villa camp saw him drafted in to face Liverpool in the third round of the FA Cup that year.

However, fast-forward to the present, and Swinkels is now facing a highly uncertain future as an Aston Villa player.

Unai Emery hasn't yet put him in the first-team picture at Villa Park, but that could still change after his exploits in the EFL last term.

How Sil Swinkels fared for Chesterfield

After spending the first half of 2025-26 out on loan with Exeter in League One, Swinkels was recalled by Aston Villa in early January.

He was immediately shipped back out the door though, only this time his destination was to League Two promotion hopefuls, Chesterfield.

Paul Cook's side ended up finishing sixth in the table before losing to Notts County in the play-off semi-finals, with Swinkels putting in a man of the match performance in the second leg.

As per FotMob, he made nine clearances, six recoveries, three tackles, won all four of his ground duels and played 10 passes into the final third in what turned out to be his final game for Chesterfield.

Overall, he started all 22 of his regular season appearances for Chesterfield last season, playing every single minute for them in the process.

His 80.7 pass success rate ranked him in the top 7.4 percentile of League Two centre-backs, whilst his 41.5 successful passes per 90 put him in the top 8.1 per cent respectively.

Swinkels also played an average of four accurate long balls, took 0.41 headed shots, won 4.86 aerial duels and was dribbled past just 0.23 times per 90 in League Two last term.

Swinkels fits the mould of an Emery centre-back

Emery will have certain youth prospects in mind for inclusion in his Aston Villa first-team pre-season camp this summer.

It's the perfect time to take a closer look at certain individuals, and Swinkels has surely earned himself a chance to show Emery what he can offer.

His leading passing and aerial duel-winning numbers from his loan spell at Chesterfield last season show that he's got traits that Emery wants from his centre-backs.

Players in that position playing under the Spaniard have to be confident and comfortable on the ball, with Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres being examples of that.

So, with Konsa and Victor Lindelof both at the World Cup, Emery will surely call on Swinkels in pre-season to help bulk out his Villa squad at the very least.