Premier League Aston Villa have reportedly received interest in one of their central defenders, according to reports.
Unai Emery's side are preparing for another topflight season after successfully breaking the 'big six' hierarchy by finishing in fourth place, ahead of Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham as well as ambitious Newcastle United.
They have already secured the signings of Amadou Onana, Ian Maatsen, Jaden Philogene, Ross Barkley and Lewis Dobbin amongst others. However, one of their young defenders, 19-year-old Josh Feeney is now attracting interest from clubs in League One, according to Birmingham Live.
The youngster began his career within Fleetwood Town's youth set up but made the move to Aston Villa's academy in 2021. He is yet to make an appearance for the Villans' senior side but has appeared on the bench six times.
He departed to Real Union on loan in February for the latter half of the season, a club of which current boss Emery has ownership of. He made eight appearances in the Primera Federacion, despite being in the squad on 17 occasions, and only received five starts.
Now he could be set to move to the third tier to gain some much needed experience.
Where could he end up? We are slowly moving into the period of the transfer window where loans are becoming more and more commonly linked. Often at the beginning of the window parent clubs want to assess their players as sides in the lower tiers focus on getting their key permanent deals completed first. However, as time moves on and targets move elsewhere clubs begin to start looking at the loan market to fill gaps in the squad.
Loans can add an extra sprinkle of quality, one that a club of EFL size wouldn't be able to afford, or they could be used just to bolster a squad and give additional options.
It is difficult to place where Feeney could go at this stage, he clearly has talent and is seemingly well thought of by his club, but with a lack of first hand experience it is difficult to tell if he is ready for what can often be a much harder physical challenge in the EFL. There are many clubs in need of defenders still and it will be interesting to see who takes the punt.
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