Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has confirmed that he is considering terminating Andre Moreira’s loan at the club.
The Portuguese goalkeeper, 23, is on a season-long loan from Spanish giants Atletico Madrid, however, he has failed to play a single minute of Championship action this term.
Smith provided an update: “It is something we will look at in January,” he told the Birmingham Mail. “I have spoken to Andre about that already.
“He was not a goalkeeper I was aware of when I first came into the club. We don’t really think he has been pushing Orjan [Nyland] as much as we would like. We will see whether he goes back to his parent club and take it from there.”
OPINION
These are damning words from Smith. Clearly he is not very happy with Moreira at all and doesn’t feel like he’s doing enough on the training ground to be seriously considered for the match day squad. His lack of appearances speaks volumes, really, especially considering Nyland has been less than stellar himself in between the sticks at Villa Park. The prospect of Moreira getting any game time this season has decreased ever further with the signing of shot-stopper Lovre Kalinic from Gent. The Croatian will arrive in Birmingham in January, essentially eliminating Moreira’s hopes of first team football. It’s best for all parties, then, if the Portuguese simply returns to his parent club because it’s just not worked out for him at Villa. Perhaps he can land another loan somewhere where he’ll get first team football because it’s not going to happen at Villa or at Atletico, that’s for sure.