Aston Villa youngster Kaine Kesler-Hayden could reportedly stay at the club for the rest of this season to provide cover at right-back, amid a potential reshuffle in that position.
Villa opted to exercise a recall option in his loan deal at Plymouth Argyle last weekend, and so he has now returned to the club after another important stage of his development.
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Considered one of our top prospects given his success at youth level with us and the subsequent loan stints he’s had, the hope is that he will be able to make an impression on Unai Emery and carve out a place in the senior squad.
That will be complicated further though by the expected arrival of Kosta Nedeljkovic from Crvena Zvezda, as per Fabrizio Romano, with the talented 18-year-old set to add more competition at right-back as a potential long-term solution as an Emery signing.
However, he is being tipped to return to Belgrade for the remainder of this campaign before joining Villa in the summer, and so we still have a short-term issue to address in the squad in terms of having sufficient cover behind Matty Cash.
Emery conceded in his pre-Everton press conference last week that Calum Chambers is free to leave, and according to The Express and Star, Kesler-Hayden is likely to be kept at Villa between now and the summer as we continue to compete on multiple fronts.
If Chambers leaves this month, that will be the sensible move from the club, as although Ezri Konsa can shift across and play there too, with Emery at times preferring to have three centre-halves at the back given the balance it provides, he excels as a centre-half and so it would be ideal to have him in the middle instead.
In turn, having Kesler-Hayden available to cover for Cash when needed would be smart, with Nedejlkovic added to the mix ahead of next season.
The report above adds that Bertrand Traore is also free to move on this month and it would be the best case scenario for all concerned if he can find a new club given his limited role, while Villa are also said to be willing to listen to offers for Leander Dendoncker, although it would have to be a permanent switch and would be dependent on our ability to sign a replacement to fill the void.
It promises to be an interesting couple of weeks in the remainder of the January transfer window, with Villa hopefully strengthening where possible with both our short-term and long-term aspirations in mind.