Aston Villa journalist Ashley Preece believes that new contract talks between the club and manager Dean Smith will be happening soon.
Smith has certainly done an impressive job with Aston Villa in recent years, taking them out of the Championship in his first season in charge, then after barely surviving in their first year back in the Premier League, managed to guide them to a respectable 11th-place finish during the 2020/21 campaign. He now has them standing 10th in the Premier League as we head into the second international break of the season.
Despite this progress, though, the one that hasn’t come his way recently has been a new contract, with his last deal being signed in November of 2019 and set to expire in the summer of 2023, so in just under two years.
However, speaking on the latest edition of the Claret And Blue podcast, Preece felt that a new deal was likely to be in the works and could be announced in the coming months:
“Obviously, you want your future sorted out, Dean will want it sorted out as well. I think conversations will probably start now. They’ll probably be, depending on the form, there could be an announcement in the new year, perhaps.
“Managers don’t tend to run their contracts down with just months left, so I think that’ll be sorted out in the coming weeks and months. Like I say, it’s getting to that time now.”
TIF Thoughts on Ashley Preece’s comments about Dean Smith at Aston Villa…
Will Dean Smith still be manager at Aston Villa next season?
Yes
No
A new contract would certainly be just rewards for the way that Smith has taken the club forward in recent years, and a new deal would go a long way in the club showing how much faith that they have in him to be the man to take them forward, potentially towards a spot in Europe.
However, one crucial factor in this is that Smith is a boyhood Villa fan, so it could take a lot of convincing, or for a very big job to come along for him to consider leaving the team that he grew up supporting of his own volition, so it’s not as if Villa should be in a total rush to tie him down.
Of course, it would be good to get things tied down and sorted as soon as possible, but it shouldn’t be treated as the immediate priority at the club right now.
In other news: “It’s frustrating” – Exclusive: Pundit reacts after big Aston Villa injury blow