Aston Villa are likely to face a huge battle to keep hold of back up goalkeeper Jed Steer come next season, according to the Birmingham Mail.
The newspaper claims that Steer’s frustration at being recalled from his loan spell at Charlton Athletic in January shows that he’s unlikely to settle for another spell warming the Villa Park bench next campaign.
The 26-year-old is thought to be desperate to play regular football and it’s unlikely that that will be happening at Villa any time soon, leaving him open to a summer exit.
As back up’s go Steer is very capable, however, it doesn’t appear as if he has much of a future at Villa Park.
OPINION
This is unfortunate news for Aston Villa. As mentioned, Steer is a very high quality back up, but he’s not going to accept that role forever. Dean Smith has Lovre Kalinic and Orjan Nyland in place to compete for the first team shirt and so that doesn’t leave much room for Steer. For somebody who wants to play football it’s an untenable situation, and Steer should really be applauded for seeking first team football. It would be easy for him to continue to sit and warm the Villa bench but that’s not going to get his career anywhere. It he wants to continue his development as a goalkeeper then he needs to go elsewhere and it seems as if that’s what he intends to do. He was playing pretty well for Charlton earlier this season and it’s clear that he can do a job at League One level or possibly higher, and so that’s what he should go and do come the summer.