Aston Villa boss Unai Emery handed an opportunity to several of our youngsters to impress this weekend in our pre-season encounter with Walsall.
With a number of senior players yet to report back for pre-season having been given an extended break, the annual trip to the Bescot Stadium presented a chance for our young talent to showcase their ability, and try to catch the eye of the Villa boss outside of training.
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Time will tell how many of them remain with the squad for our pre-season tour of the USA as many are expected to be loaned out, but it was a good opportunity to see what they could potentially offer ahead of a campaign in which we’ll need a deep squad to be able to compete on multiple fronts.
Cameron Archer is still to come back and hopefully he’ll be the player to lead the way for others to follow this year as he himself follows in the footsteps of Jacob Ramsey. Five players in particular stood out for me at Walsall though, but Filip Marschall, Viljami Sinisalo, Ben Chrisene, Travis Patterson, Seb Revan, Josh Feeney, Aaron Ramsey and Omari Kellyman all deserve a shout too.
Jaden Philogene
Positive with the ball at his feet, the 21-year-old showed good control and turn of pace to offer a threat down our right flank while drifting inside at times too.
Showed great skill to win the penalty that drew us level, and also tracked back to put in a shift defensively that would have earned praise from Emery. A really positive showing after his loan stint at Cardiff last season.
Tim Iroegbunam
We saw his potential last season before he was loaned out to QPR, and after an important year of playing regularly to improve and develop his game, he looks like he’s continuing to move in the right direction.
Impressed with his physicality, powerful ability to break away from pressure and retain possession, and he’ll hope he’s able to establish himself as depth in midfield for us this season. Still raw, but he has certain key characteristics that could see him step in and allow Boubacar Kamara to rest, while learning from the Frenchman at close quarters along with Emery’s coaching staff could be pivotal too.
Tommi O’Reilly
There is something potentially special about the 19-year-old, as his balance, technical quality and composure ensure he always manages to stand out when watching him feature.
Whether it was a drop of the shoulder to create space for himself or excellent control to free himself of pressure, he has some obvious talents that Emery will hopefully develop and utilise.
Always looks a classy operator and he’ll hopefully keep adding goals and assists to his game on a consistent basis.
Lamare Bogarde
Looked assured and composed as he slotted in at right-back after replacing Matty Cash. Good technical ability on the ball to keep possession and keep us ticking over, and showed good defensive awareness, positioning and strength to keep things tight on that side.
Another one to benefit from a loan spell last season, and while it’s likely he will be sent out again – hopefully at a higher level this time to test him further – the 19-year-old Dutchman looks a talent.
Kadan Young
Perhaps slightly out of necessity at times due to a lack of options, but we’ve already seen Emery involve Young in the senior squad last season as he was on the bench on five occasions.
An old-school sort of winger in terms of his desire to be more direct, run at his defender and provide width, and while he’s another who will ideally get a loan move to play regularly and learn, he showed his potential on Saturday too with Emery watching on.