With a planned reshuffle by Unai Emery in his position, Aston Villa right-back Matty Cash faces a battle to cement his place in the starting line-up moving forward.
The 26-year-old has been a key figure for Villa since he arrived from Nottingham Forest in September 2020, going on to make 124 appearances for the club since, with 28 of those outings coming so far this season.
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It’s clear that he is a crucial presence for Emery, but Villa are expected to have a reshuffle at right-back both in the short-term and long-term future.
While the Polish international has at times been deployed in a more advanced role on the right flank, it’s clear that his preferred and more settled position is at right-back. With Ezri Konsa shifted across on a number of occasions this season though as Emery has gone with three centre-halves in his backline, that has already presented a challenge to Cash.
That said, given he’s featured in all but three Premier League games so far this season, and he has played in all six of our Europa Conference League group games as well as in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, his form and return of four goals and two assists have solidified him as a key option for us.
Emery revealed last week that Calum Chambers is free to leave the club as he has been limited to a bit-part role for some time now, but that has sparked movement in that department in terms of how we fill the need for competition and depth.
Having been recalled from his loan spell at Plymouth last week, Pilgrims boss Ian Foster revealed that Villa have assured them that the intention is for Kaine Kesler-Hayden to “fight for his place”, as per BBC Sport.
If that is indeed the case, it’s a huge opportunity for the 21-year-old, as he’ll be itching to impress and show Emery that he is capable of playing at the top level and making an important impact when given a chance.
Kesler-Hayden is one of our top prospects from the squad that won the FA Youth Cup in 2021, and so it would certainly be great to see him get that chance to try and secure a place in the senior Villa squad moving forward.
However, as reported by The Athletic, Villa are also set to sign Kosta Nedeljkovic from Red Star Belgrade in a deal worth around £8m this week, albeit he is expected to return to his current club on loan for the rest of the current campaign.
In turn, Cash now faces competition for his starting berth in the Villa XI both in the immediate and long-term future, and so it will be interesting to see how he deals with that pressure as ideally, he’ll excel and solidify his spot in the side with a run of good form to finish the season.
Emery has made no secret of his desire to have at least two top options in every position in his Villa squad to ensure we’re capable of competing for major honours on multiple fronts in the years ahead, and so adding competition and cover is the sensible strategy. However, we’ve also heard from the likes of John McGinn on how the Spaniard is ready to bring in others if his current options are unable to carry out his plans at the level expected on the pitch.
That level of competition and demand from the Villa boss will only drive up standards at the club and build on the progress we’ve made thus far, and it’s an intriguing test of character and quality for someone like Cash to have two young up-and-comers challenging his place in the side.
With his experience and how he’s performed under Emery so far, he will remain an important player for us. That said, given Villa’s movement at right-back and seemingly long-term planning, he perhaps still has something to prove that he’s ready to fend off the new blood and keep his spot at the top of the pecking order for the foreseeable future.