Aston Villa have confirmed that Tommi O’Reilly has joined Shrewsbury Town on a season-long loan deal.
The 20-year-old has emerged as one of the top talents in our Academy, showcasing his technical ability and quality in the final third at youth level.
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While he has featured for Unai Emery at senior level and was involved with the first-team squad at times last season, the next step in his development will be crucial, and it’s fundamental that he has regular playing time to improve and gain experience.
As per the club’s official statement, O’Reilly will spend the upcoming campaign on loan at Shrewsbury, after having extended his contract with us back in January.
A loan spell at Real Union in the second half of last season didn’t go as desired due to injury, and so it’s hoped that this switch proves to be the right choice for him and a more productive loan stint.
There are high hopes for the talented starlet given what we’ve seen from him to this point, but naturally this will be a critical period for him now in terms of either making an impression on Unai Emery and working his way into his plans, or ultimately being sold off the back of a positive loan move.
We’ve seen Villa utilise that option over the past year with several young talents being sold for profit and thus balancing our books for PSR purposes, and so that seems likely to be the test for others in the coming transfer windows.
It’s hoped that O’Reilly is able to make the cut eventually as a first-team Villa player, but he will unsurprisingly face significant competition for places at that stage, and so for now his full focus will be on this loan spell with Shrewsbury, and making the most of the opportunity to showcase himself, improve and mature into a more experienced player.
