What the future holds for the players in the Aston Villa showcase

Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery used 23 players in the club’s first two pre-season friendlies against Walsall and Spartak Trnava, but many of them will not be in the first team next season.

Villa beat Walsall 3-0 at the Bescot Stadium on Wednesday before winning by the same score against Spartak in Slovakia on Saturday afternoon. Emery opted to change XIs at half-time in both games, but kept each team very similar in both games.

The team that played the first half against Walsall started the second half against Spartak but for Kadan Young replaces Jamal Jimoh-Aloba, while Lewis Dobbin – who missed the midweek game – started the first half in Young’s place against the Slovakian team alongside the other. 10 players who also played in the second period against Walsall.

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Villa have had a busy start to the summer transfer window and more business is expected to be completed in the next six weeks. There is a good chance that more than half of the players Emery used in the first two pre-season friendlies will either not be involved in his first team next season, or will be out on loan or even sold.

Starting with the defenders, Emery chose from three right-backs in Matty Cash, Kosta Nedeljkovic and Kaine Kesler-Hayden. Cash, who captained Villa in the first half against Walsall and in the second period against Spartak, has interest from elsewhere but is expected to stay at Villa this summer.

Nedeljkovic only turned 18 in December and although he has shown positive signs in pre-season so far, he could be loaned out as he needs game time at this stage of his development. The same can be said for 21-year-old Kesler-Hayden, who was excellent in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Slovakia.

Sil Swinkels is likely to leave on his first loan, with Real Union a possible destination, while goalkeeper James Wright is also being considered for the same move that Tommi O’Reilly and Josh Feeney made in January. Feeney has interest from League One clubs and is expected to leave on loan this summer.

Lamare Bogarde, who returned to Villa in January after a successive loan spell at Bristol Rovers, is said to be of interest to Nottingham Forest this window. He will turn 21 at the end of the year and also needs game time at this stage of his development, but he may leave Villa for good.

Leander Dendoncker returned to Villa after a loan spell at Napoli, where he made just a handful of appearances following the sacking of Walter Mazzarri shortly after his arrival at Napoli. Villa hope to sell the midfielder permanently this summer as he enters the final two years of his contract.

Jimoh-Aloba, who joined Villa from West Brom last year, played the first 45 minutes of Villa’s win over Walsall on Wednesday night. It is unclear whether Villa are looking to loan him out or keep him part of their under-21 squad for Premier League 2. The same goes for midfielder Young, who continues to impress Emery after playing in the US tour last summer and mid-season training camp in Dubai in December 2022.

Dobbin joined Villa from Everton in a £9m deal at the start of the summer but faces plenty of competition in attacking areas to break into Emery’s squad. He made 12 Premier League appearances under Sean Dyche last term and scored in the Toffees’ win over Chelsea in December. The 21-year-old could go out on loan to get some minutes under his belt over the course of the season.

That’s what Louie Barry has been doing for the past three years. Last season he enjoyed a highly productive start to the season with Stockport County, scoring nine goals and registering two assists in 15 appearances in League Two before suffering a hamstring injury which ruled him out until the final weeks of the season .

Barry scored late on in Villa’s 3-0 win at Walsall, as did Cameron Archer against Spartak on Saturday. The striker left Villa for Sheffield United last summer but returned after the Blades were relegated. Villa will cash in on Archer again if their valuation is met, although Jhon Duran could leave the club this window.

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