As Unai Emery’s reshuffle in January continues, Aston Villa youngsters Kaine Kesler-Hayden and Tim Iroegbunam are set to get their opportunity to shine.
With Villa currently sat in fourth place in the Premier League table and still competing in both the FA Cup and Europa Conference League, there is a lot on the line in the second half of this campaign.
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Some will fairly argue that we should strike while the iron’s hot and take advantage of the position we’re in and strengthen significantly this month, but the reality seems as though we’ll likely be relatively quiet on the transfer front and improve from within.
It’s a gamble, sure. Had we gone for more experience to bolster the squad, perhaps we would be better placed going into the next few months in trying to compete at the very top.
Whether it’s financial reasons, Emery’s judgement on who he believes is the best fit for his ideas or the fact that we’ve still got key players to either come back from injury or to find their best form still, our work in the transfer market is expected to be limited.
However, speaking on Thursday, the Villa boss has confirmed that he will put his faith in, and work tirelessly with, both Kesler-Hayden and Iroegbunam, who are now set to provide key depth in the squad.
“We’ve added Kaine (Kesler Hayden) to our squad because we need a player with his characteristics as a full-back,” Emery told the media, as per VillaTV. “The only player who can play like that is Matty Cash. Now with Kaine, we have two.”
On Iroegbunam, he added: “I was testing him in each session we were having, it was a test for him,” he said, as per BirminghamLive. “I think he is a player who can progress and we think he could progress more now [after] giving him more chances to play.
“He’s doing a process with us. I think his characteristics as a player is more or less the same position trying to fight or to share the position with Bouba Kamara.
“I decided to let Dendoncker to leave and to keep here Tim. I am going to work now after today and after the match tomorrow thinking to give him chances to progress with us here in the idea we are trying to build with Tim.
“We have to do it, we have to try and support and help. Tim has been working with us for five months. He started being injured in the summer but he was available training with us the last few months.”
It’s a big show of faith in itself from Emery to make it clear that he believes both Kesler-Hayden, 21, and Iroegbunam, 20, are ready for the next step in their development at senior level. The Villa boss will have been meticulous in his assessment of the pair, and they’ve ticked enough of the important boxes to deserve their respective places in the group.
That should reassure us too that they’re ready for the challenge ahead and are capable of making key contributions when needed, and so patience will be required as they integrate and showcase their ability.
We’ve seen what Emery has done with so many of the players in this squad in terms of improving them and raising their level since he was appointed, and so there is real excitement over what he and his coaching staff can do for Kesler-Hayden and Ireogbunam in the next five months to see where they can go.
From a more pessimistic perspective, could we be setting them up for big-money moves elsewhere? Possibly. We’ve seen it already with Cameron Archer and Aaron Ramsey.
In the short term though, the Villa boss believes they can be important for him in getting us over the line where we want to be. He wouldn’t green light Leander Dendoncker’s departure if he didn’t think Iroegbunam was ready for this, and it should be a massive boost in confidence and belief for the two youngsters that Emery is ready to show faith in them to deliver on the big stage.