Aston Villa have been told to “do the right thing” by letting young striker Cameron Archer go out on loan if he is not going to be given game time at the club.
That is the opinion of former Premier League striker Noel Whelan, who was speaking to Football Insider about the latest news from Villa Park.
Archer spent the second half of last season on loan at Championship side Preston North End, where he scored seven goals and provided one assist in 20 Championship appearances, according to Transfermarkt.
The 20-year-old has been described as having an “abundance of talent” by Lilywhites head coach Ryan Lowe after clearly impressing the manager in his loan spell at Deepdale.
And Whelan believes that the four-time England U21 international should be allowed to leave Villa Park on loan again given that he has played just 26 minutes for Steven Gerrard’s side this term.
He said: “Gerrard thought he wanted to keep him around, but he’s not getting the game time he needs.
“Development can only be development if you’re playing first-team football.
“If you can’t break into the side, then you’ve got to go somewhere to keep your rhythm and progression going.
“If Gerrard doesn’t think he’s ready to play good minutes, then he’s got to do the right thing.”
“Get him out on loan and scoring goals, and help him finish the season strongly again.
“It’s very difficult. You want to hoard good players just in case, but it’s not beneficial for this young man. He needs to be playing football.”
TIF Thoughts on Whelan’s comments…
We agree with Whelan and believe that a loan move for Archer – who only has four Villa appearances to his name – is going to be the best way to develop the young striker’s massive potential.
We don’t feel that sitting on the bench for Gerrard’s side is in any way going to help the young talent, and Villa could be missing out on a future superstar by not enabling him to go out and get regular game time.
It could also be argued that with the West Midlands giants’ goalscoring problems this season – having only scored seven Premier League goals – that the Walsall-born talent deserves a run in the team.
Therefore, we are inclined to think that one way or another, Archer needs to be getting game time under his belt at what is a critical age for his development.