Having agreed on a contract extension this past week, Aston Villa youngster Kaine Kesler-Hayden will be eyeing pre-season as a big chance to establish himself.
The 21-year-old was one of our standout talents at youth level, captaining the side that lifted the FA Youth Cup in 2021, and he has since gone through the next stage of his development.
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Loan spells at Swindon Town, MK Dons, Huddersfield and Plymouth have given him that all-important experience of regular playing time at senior level, and the decision was made to recall him in January to integrate into Unai Emery’s Villa first-team squad for the second half of last season.
That in itself would have been a valuable experience for Kesler-Hayden as he learns to adapt to Emery’s demands and test himself against top players at the highest level on a daily basis in training, and so although he didn’t receive much time on the pitch, it was hopefully another key step in his progression.
Having now penned a new contract to extend his stay at the club, this will be a critical period for him.
Emery still has Matty Cash as his primary choice at right-back, while he’s often utilised the versatility of Ezri Konsa and played him in that position too.
Kosta Nedeljkovic will arrive this summer looking to establish himself too, and so there is certainly competition for Kesler-Hayden to overcome if he wants to stake his claim and earn his spot in the Villa XI.
Similarly to last season though, we’ll be looking to compete across multiple competitions again, and hopefully we’ll see improvement and deeper runs in the domestic cups as we target silverware.
Coupled with our Premier League and Champions League commitments, with at least eight games to play in the latter in its new format, it will be imperative that we’ve got depth in every position, and so there is a potential opening for Kesler-Hayden to get minutes and be involved.
As we’ve seen with the likes of Tim Iroegbunam and Omari Kellyman this summer though, and with Aaron Ramsey, Cameron Archer and others previously in recent times, Villa have a clear strategy for the time being that utilises our Academy to sell top prospects in order to balance our books and adhere to PSR.
Hopefully in time as we look to grow our revenue and become more financially sustainable in different ways, we won’t have to do that as regularly in the coming years and can keep hold of our top talent instead.
Nevertheless, that threat is still there for our youngsters for now. Ideally, we’d see the best of the bunch make that step up and enjoy a breakthrough and a long, successful future in a Villa shirt. Ultimately though, that’s become a real factor in how we might have to operate in the more immediate future, and time will tell which path Kesler-Hayden finds himself going down.
