Just in: Unai Emery has promoted two academy players to senior team…

Aston Villa are a club steeped in a grand history of domestic and European success. As one of the founding members of the football league, the Birmingham-based club have always been a permanent fixture in English football. Being the most prolific trophy-winning side pre-WWII, the Villans have frequently been a hotbed for some of the finest youth talents in the country.

 

Nowadays, it’s almost impossible for clubs outside the top six to truly compete with those in it, due to the sheer financial might on display simply insurmountable in most cases. With that economic power comes the stockpiling of prodigious youth prospects in academies and the further widening of the gap between the so-called “elite” and the rest of the football pyramid.

 

That said, Aston Villa’s youth system is doing a fine job at keeping up with the pace of the likes of Man Utd, Man City, and Chelsea, being the seventh most prolific academy in recent times, when looking at the number of academy players that are playing international age group football.

 

With a busy summer ahead, Emery and NSWE should look to the club’s young stars to see who can help the first team and spare them a small fortune on transfer fees in the process. After all, it’s a lot cheaper to promote from within than it is to try and address every gap in the squad by making new signings.