Cameron Archer is set to rejoin Aston Villa this summer after a clause was triggered in his agreement to join Sheffield Utd last summer.
As per BBC Sport, the 22-year-old joined the Blades in a deal worth around £18m last August, and it was an important boost for Villa in terms of helping us to balance our books with the sale of a homegrown youth player.
READ MORE: Emery on Villa transfer strategy this summer as he eyes reinforcements
Unfortunately though, his switch didn’t prove to be a success as he managed just four goals and an assist in 31 appearances, as Sheffield Utd were relegated back down to the Championship.
According to the report below, that in turn has triggered an obligation for Villa to buy Archer back which is believed to be for around half the figure touted above for his sale, and so it ultimately proved to be a financially rewarding season-long loan stint.
It’s unclear at this stage what will happen with Archer next, but Emery has confirmed that he will return to Villa at the start of the summer at least, and decisions will soon be made off the back of that regarding the entire squad.
“Yes, at the beginning he’s coming back,” Emery said, as per BirminghamLive. “We are analysing [players] and we are going to meet with (owners) Nassef (Sawiris) and Wes Edens).
“We are going to try to individually analyse each situation and try to take the best decision with every player.
“When we finish the season completely on Sunday we are going to sit with the club, Monchi, Damian (Vidagany), with myself, with Wes Edens and we are going to take decisions. We haven’t decided yet about each one, whether they will be with us in the future or not.”
Time will tell if Archer has done enough and Villa’s needs are so that we keep him around next season, as although he is obviously talented and has plenty of potential, Emery needs to think about both the sporting side and having the best possible option behind Ollie Watkins, but also the financial aspect too if selling Archer would help fund our own spending.
Interestingly though, it remains to be seen if Jhon Duran could be a candidate to move on instead this summer, as although the Colombian maverick has scored important goals this season and is clearly a big talent, question marks continue to be raised over his character and personality given what we’ve heard from Emery and John McGinn in recent times.
Speculation linked him with a move away in January, and so if Duran were to move on instead, then that would present an argument in favour of keeping Archer to fill that void, or more likely we look outside the club and bring in a new signing to play a key role next season.
It’s a big decision for Emery and the club as it will impact our ability to be competitive across multiple fronts moving forward.