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Aston Villa have allowed their youth stars like Corey Blackett-Taylor and Jake Doyle-Hayes leave the club on loan today.
Words by Mark Jirobe (@VillaMarkPGH)
Aston Villa were never going to land a blockbuster signing in the January transfer window, but they very well could have had the best transfer window to date in terms of helping youth prospects gain experience. Villa manager Dean Smith has always been a proponent of helping develop youth and a line in the sand has been drawn.
There are more than just a few youngsters at Aston Villa that could massively get a boost from playing actual first team football, even on a semi-consistent basis. Instead of being thrust into a the first-team at Aston Villa, Dean Smith and the coaching staff have allowed some promising talent to go out on loan.
Players like Callum O’Hare have been on the cusp of breaking into the first-team for a while now and supporters have been vocal of wanting to see more of him. O’Hare featured in the starting eleven for Villa in a 3-0 loss to Swansea City in the FA Cup 3rd round, but was mostly disappointing on the day. The 20-year old will probably tell you himself that he can be better and has shown he can play better. It is a good bit of business for him to be loaned to League Two side Carlisle United to further his development at a club that is pushing for promotion.
Scunthorpe have are close to securing the services of Villa youth prospect Jacob Bedeau until the end of the current campaign. Bedeau has been touted as the next centre-back to be promoted from the youth academy and into the fold on a full-time basis. Villa seem to be highly impressed with the central defender and ‘make it or break it’ time is approaching in due course for him. Bedeau has not played a professional game of football since 2016, but has heavily featured in the Aston Villa U-23’s. Scunthorpe are currently 14th in League One and could use the help of an athletic defender like Bedeau.
Corey Blackett-Taylor will also be dispatched on loan to Walsall for further development, while Jake Doyle-Hayes has joined up with Cambridge United until the end of the season.
Young fullback James Bree has also been sent on loan until the end of the season to Ipswich Town and he’ll be sure to get more fruitful minutes on the pitch than he would at Villa. Bree could very well fight for a first team spot next season as Alan Hutton is out of contract in the summer and most likely will not be offered a contract. Bree has featured for Villa on 8 occasions this season and found himself in the starting eleven on six occasions.
At his pre-match press conference before squaring off against Reading, Dean Smith commented on some of the loan deals Aston Villa made on Deadline Day: “Callum (O’Hare) is going to a team who is challenging at the top of League Two in Carlisle, who play really good football. I know the manager well, so that’s a really good fit for us. We want to hand pick where these young players go for their development. Obviously Corey (Blackett-Taylor) as well, going to a club I know very well. It will benefit them, it will aid their development. We probably forget and think they’re ready too early. I remember Jack Grealish, as I’ve said before, going out to Notts County and played in League One. So, it’s not going to do them any harm. It will certainly aid their development and bring them back in preseason better players for us.”
