Aston Villa have confirmed that goalkeeper Filip Marschall has joined MK Dons on loan for the rest of the current season.
The 20-year-old made his senior debut last month as he featured in the Europa Conference League, but as he continues to sit behind Emiliano Martinez and Robin Olsen, opportunities have been severely limited.
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With that situation unlikely to change and having already had a positive spell at Gateshead last season, Marschall is now set for another stint elsewhere.
As per the club’s statement, the young shot-stopper has made the switch to MK Dons until the end of the season, as he now looks ahead to another important stage of his development where he’ll gain crucial playing time and experience.
He will no doubt have benefitted from training alongside Martinez in particular, and in his appearance against Zrinjski, we saw clear traits that Unai Emery and his coaching staff are looking to instil in our goalkeepers in terms of their distribution and organisation of the backline.
In turn, it’s hoped that this opportunity at MK Dons will give Marschall the chance to build on that and continue to improve and progress, and he’ll potentially return in the summer looking to play a more prominent role if he can edge out Olsen in the pecking order.
That said, speculation this week has linked us with a move for another goalkeeper, as according to Fabrizio Romano, Villa have made an offer to sign Elfsborg’s Halon Rafn Valdimarsson. With that in mind, it remains to be seen what impact a temporary exit for Marschall has on our long-term situation.
Nevertheless, what is clear from a Villa perspective in the short-term future is that we need to add someone to the squad this month, as particularly with Olsen’s recent injury troubles in mind, we need sufficient cover behind Martinez as well as giving Emery an option so that he can rest the Argentine international if needed too.
