Aston Villa Youth Academy Success
A lot has been said about Aston Villa Youth Academy success in recent years, we’ve certainly covered it on MOMS too.
In recent seasons, rather than being bright sparks for Villa’s future, the Aston Villa youth academy graduates have filled in the gaps, as the club looked to shed its high wage earners and rebuild. The Villa team that conquered Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield last season, had six academy graduates starting (Herd, Bannan, Weimann, Clark, Baker, and Lichaj), with Marc Albrighton also on the bench.
As we’ve seen from his transfers in, there’s no doubt Paul Lambert has preferred to go forward with other youngsters brought in, rather than place his faith in the young Villans that have sprouted and are in their early 20’s. Against Liverpool at Anfield this season, only Clark and Weimann were in the first 11, while Albrighton and Gardner were on the bench (you could also factor in Gabby Agbonlahor as a home-grown player too).
Perhaps Lambert holds out more hope for the likes of Samir Carruthers and Jack Grealish, who will have had valuable loan experiences this season, so could be included in Lambert’s plans for next season.
Anyway, as it stands, as per last year, Villa remain the third best club in the England at producing top players for the main five leagues in Europe. In fact, the only change from last year’s figures is one less player currently playing for Villa, due to Barry Bannan leaving Villa Park for Crystal Palace in the summer. UTV
