Aston Villa have confirmed that Cameron Archer has returned to the club, as per the terms of his transfer agreement to join Sheffield Utd last summer.
The 22-year-old joined the Blades last August and went on to score four goals and provide an assist in 32 appearances for the club.
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However, speculation was rife that a relegation clause or similar was perhaps inserted into the agreement which in turn would see Archer return to Villa, and that appears to be the case.
As per the club’s official tweet, Archer has now come back to the club after his year away as per the terms of the transfer agreement, and he was pictured participating in pre-season training at Bodymoor Heath.
Having emerged as one of our top prospects while playing at youth level, it was widely believed that Archer could become an important member of the senior squad, particularly after impressive loan spells with Preston and Middlesbrough.
Unfortunately, his time at Sheffield Utd didn’t go to plan though, and so it now remains to be seen if that ship has sailed in terms of him getting another shot at Villa, and instead we’ll look elsewhere to add depth behind Ollie Watkins.
Conversely, with speculation linking Jhon Duran with an exit this summer, that could open up space for Archer to add to our firepower, but with Unai Emery deciding already that he was happy to approve an exit for the Villa starlet, albeit with the safeguard of the clause to bring him back, it seems questionable if a second chance will materialise.
That said, with his limited impact last season in mind, has he done enough to attract clubs to make a suitable offer to acquire his services, or will Villa struggle to get what they would ideally like to receive in terms of a transfer fee?
Much will no doubt now depend on Emery’s judgement as to whether Archer has developed enough to warrant being kept at the club, but it’s a vital decision when it comes to ensuring we have the necessary depth and versatility in our attacking options to be competitive this season.
