Within 24 hours of the Premier League transfer window closing, Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce suggested at the pre-Wigan press conference that there maybe two or three more faces incoming to Villa Park. He also gave advance warning of the loan out of Jed Steer to Charlton, a move which was completed this afternoon, which brings clarity to the goalkeeping situation.
It was expected that the 25-year-old Steer may have carried on as Villa’s number one, while the new signings of Orlan Nyland and Andre Moreira found their feet. In fact, there were question marks over the purpose of loaning in Moreira, if Steer was in the squad.
Charlton boss Lee Bowyer admitted that he had talks with Steer this time last season to get him in on loan, although Charlton ended up going down a different keeper route.
Bowyer had met Bruce this summer and mentioned Steer again, although with Villa’s financial meltdown at the time, it was looking likely that Steer would start the new season as Villa’s number one, due to a lack of funds to bring in any new blood.
“I saw [Aston Villa manager] Steve Bruce in the summer and hinted I might need a bit of help in this window,” Said Bowyer on Charlton’s official website. “So I’d like to thank him and Villa for loaning him because we’ve got a top keeper who played at the weekend in the Championship.”
This conversation with Bowyer must have been in the back of Bruce’s mind, as even with Villa’s spending currently cautious due to FFP, Bruce still went ahead with bringing in keeper alternatives rather than trusting in Steer.
It’s clear that Nyland will now take the mantle of Villa’s number one (ala the number on his back), Bruce today revealed the Norwegian keeper had been on the Villa radar even before he joined the club as manager.
While Norwegian football fan opinion has been mixed, it’ll be interesting to get some first impressions with our own eyes at the weekend against Wigan.
UTV
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Steer looked solid to me in the Hull game. Maybe the punch out for their goal was maybe a little suspect. I hope this move does not blow up in our faes
After talk of sending Sarkic out on loan he’s now been given the number 33 shirt & Bunn 31 so looks as if they both might be staying . But we do seem short in the goalie dept as all the Accademy keepers seem ??? to have left according to the squad list on the OS & the U23’s have Sarkic & Watkins