Aston Villa have confirmed that both Viljami Sinisalo and Finn Azaz have been loaned out, joining Burton Albion and Plymouth Argyle respectively.
It’s been a busy start to the week for Villa, with the squad all travelling to Australia for our pre-season tour, while the club confirmed in an official statement that a deal has been agreed to sign Ludwig Augustinsson on loan too.
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More deals are expected to be done in the coming weeks, but a key aspect of our strategy this summer will be deciding which of our talented crop of youngsters will remain at the club this season or move on elsewhere temporarily to gain experience and regular playing time.
As per the club’s official site, both Sinisalo and Azaz will now move on for the season at Burton and Plymouth respectively, and they’ll hope to secure more prominent roles and perform at senior level, as opposed to being stuck either on the bench at Villa down the pecking order or playing at youth level instead.
It will hopefully be beneficial for their development at this stage of their careers and they’ll undoubtedly look to take as much as possible from the experiences and return to Villa next summer looking to push on and break into the senior squad on a more regular basis.
From Gerrard’s perspective, he still faces a similar decision on a number of other youngsters this summer, and so the pre-season games in Australia will undoubtedly be a key factor in helping him make those calls, with loan spells away from the club expected for a number of other top Villa talents.