Young Aston Villa defender Mitchell Clark has lifted the lid on his disappointment at not making the step up to the first team and how it led to his desperation to secure a summer exit.
The 19-year-old right back left Villa Park on a temporary basis to join League Two side Port Vale during the transfer window and has become a firm fixture in the starting XI for his new club, starting and playing every minute of their first five games of the campaign.
Speaking about his exit, Clark revealed he was bitterly disappointed to have been on the brink of the first team before dropping back to the under-23, and that playing reserve football resulted in him making his mind up over his future.
He told the Coventry Telegraph: “I thought my summer went well, went with the first team to Portugal for two weeks doing running and then came back and played a few friendly games for the first team.
“Then I got told I was going on pre-season with the Under-23s and 18s to Denmark, so that was a dip for me. My confidence wasn’t the best and I didn’t really want to be there.
“I came back and I still wasn’t very happy and played a few 23s games and probably didn’t play the best because my head wasn’t in the right place. I heard that Port Vale were interested in taking me on loan.
“I didn’t have any second thoughts because I just wanted to get out to play football.”
Opinion
Clark is very much one for the future at Aston Villa but will his attitude to desperately be playing regular first team football hinder his chances at his parent club? At 19 he has plenty of learning to do and Steve Bruce seems happy for him to be developing down in League Two, but it is probably not where the player wants to be after coming so close to stepping into the Villa first team. Still, it is where he is playing and he is showing great progress to have established himself as a mainstay with Port Vale already. If he can keep up his good form then Bruce will have no option but to take another look at the young full back and decide if he is ready to make the big step up to the Championship. For now, Clark just needs to keep his head down and focus on being the very best he can be for his current club, for that is the only way he will be able to forge a future with the Villans.