Aston Villa U18s impressed again on Friday evening as we booked our place in the FA Youth Cup final against Liverpool later this month.
With their 4-1 win over West Bromwich Albion, that’s now 22 goals scored and just two conceded in the last four rounds of the competition, as this group of talented young stars continue to shine.
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Louie Barry was deservedly named Man of the Match after his stellar display which included a stunning finish to make it 2-1, while Carney Chukwuemeka dazzled once again and Brad Young continued his clinical campaign to bag his 20th goal of the season.
Kaine Kesler captained the side well and produced another top performance at right-back while drifting inside and further up the pitch to show his quality on the ball, while Arjan Raikhy continues to ooze class in the middle of the pitch.
The youngster goes under the radar given the attacking quality in front of him, but he plays a key role in the heart of the side and it’s hoped that he can continue his development in the coming years as well as the entire group.
In the short term, it’s hoped that Villa’s young guns can finish the job in the final and claim silverware to cap off a successful run.
However, the talent in this group is something to excite Villa fans in the long term too as there will naturally be hope and expectation that several of these players will be able to develop and progress to a point where they are involved at senior level.
That might be some time away still as they go through the age groups and gain experience while developing both physically and in terms of their knowledge of the game, but in Barry, Chukwuemeka, Young, Raikhy, Kesler and several others, Villa’s future certainly looks bright with these players all knocking on the door and showing their quality in front of Dean Smith at Villa Park on Friday night.
Highlights from our #FAYouthCup semi-final victory last night! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/JucnKeAynh
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 15, 2021
