Deadline Day: Aston Villa send youngsters to lower EFL levels

Another hectic Deadline Day came and went and Aston Villa made some moves. Dean Smith and staff were extra aggressive in sending its young players out on loan this January.

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy will soon have some claret and blue company at Cambridge United. 20-year-old midfielder Jake Doyle-Hayes has joined the League Two club to add competition to its centre-mid ranks.

With manager Colin Calderwood, a former Villa assistant, leading the team, Cambridge has become Aston Villa-lite.

Joining the pair on loan is Mitch Clark, who is still at Port Vale.

Additionally, Deadline Day brought about several more loan deals, most notably Callum O’Hare joining Carlisle United. The 5th-placed club in League Two will be O’Hare’s first taste of senior football outside of Aston Villa. If the 20-year-old can get a serious run of games, that will be huge for his potential involvement in next season’s campaign.

Similarly, James Bree joined Ipswich Town for the remainder of the campaign. With a run of games, Bree will return this summer, ready to compete with new signing Frédéric Guilbert for the right-back position.

It didn’t stop there!

21-year-old winger Corey Blackett-Taylor joined Walsall on loan until the end of the season. His contract is up at the end of the season, so presumably this move is an audition for interested clubs in the summer. This is Blackett-Taylor’s first loan move outside Aston Villa.

21-year-old forward Harry McKirdy has been loaned out for the third time in his Aston Villa career. McKirdy joins Newport County in League Two (currently 13th) for the rest of the season.

Additionally, Villa made one permanent outgoing transfer – sending defender Jacob Bedeau to Scunthorpe United on a free. Bedeau, as you may remember, was a £1 million signing as a teenager from Bury two years ago. He never made a first-team appearance here, but hopefully he can get things going again at the L1 level.

Good luck, Jacob!