Aston Villa have confirmed that Ben Chrisene has left the club on a permanent basis to join Norwich City.
The 20-year-old came through our youth ranks after joining the club from Exeter in 2020, and he went on to impress having been a key figure in our FA Youth Cup success in 2021.
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Loan stints followed at Kilmarnock and Blackburn as he looked to gain experience and continue to develop with regular playing time, while the objective would always have been to make a breakthrough at senior level for Villa.
Unfortunately, that no longer looks likely as Villa have confirmed that Chrisene has joined Norwich on a permanent basis, and although they haven’t shared any further details on a fee or any potential clauses, it will be a small boost if we’ve made even a minor profit on him.
It’s a decision that makes sense for all concerned, with the young left-back now presented with an opportunity to establish himself and play regularly, while Villa move him on and pocket a potential fee with the likes of Ian Maatsen, Alex Moreno, Lucas Digne and others all ahead in the pecking order to play in that role.
In the bigger picture, it seems likely to be a common trend and ongoing theme of our transfer strategy moving forward, with the likes of Omari Kellyman and Tim Iroegbunam already moving on this summer, and although both Cameron Archer and Jaden Philogene have since returned to the club, they were part of the previous group along with Carney Chukwuemeka and Aaron Ramsey to depart.
With PSR in mind and being able to balance our spending but importantly fund bringing in reinforcements, it will likely be a fundamental part of our future planning to continue to identify and acquire top young talent, and while the hope is that the best of the crop make it through to work with Unai Emery, the others will likely follow a similar path to the likes of Chrisene and represent smart financial business.