Aston Villa: Jed Steer, The Unlikely No. 1 Goalkeeper Again

Jed Steer’s unlikely rise back to starting goalkeeper is one of the more interesting storylines at Aston Villa this season.

For a long, long time, the powers to be at Aston Villa Football Club did everything possible to strengthen the goalkeeper position following relegation three seasons ago. First, there was young Pierluigi Gollini, brought in under former manager Roberto Di Matteo. His ~£5 million signing did not end up very fruitful after RDM won just a single league match in his tenure.

The ensuing manager Steve Bruce showed little interest in Gollini. Instead, he opted to sign Manchester United’s Sam Johnstone to successive loan moves, totaling 18 months. To Bruce’s credit, he hit it big on trusting Johnstone. But when Villa failed to win the play-off final in 2018, West Bromwich Albion struck a five-year deal with Manchester United for the player in the summer transfer window.

Ørjan Nyland signed for Villa this past summer, with Bruce at the helm. The three-year, ~£1 million deal was expected to provide decent value for a then-cash-stripped team. But the Norwegian international struggled, akin to the rest of the team, and later ruptured the achilles tendon – unceremoniously ending his season.

Now, here we are in present day under Dean Smith, and it’s not Lovre Kalinic who is the starter (a ~£7 million signing two months ago), but veteran Jed Steer, who has outlasted all the names above and some. The 26-year-old has been at Aston Villa since the summer of 2013, making him one of the longest-tenured senior players at the club. However, his seven years in the claret and blue has produced under 30 total appearances across all competitions and four separate loan moves. A mere three months ago he was playing for Charlton in England’s third tier. Now, he’s back at Villa, playing for a promotion-contending side.

Steer is out-of-contract in the summer, and it’s difficult to see what his future holds. I suspect much will be determined when and how this season unfolds. With Nyland + Kalinic also signed long-term, Steer will have to win over Dean Smith and goalkeeper coach Neil Cutler pretty convincingly.

It’s ironic, really. Steer has never put a wrong foot forward spanning multiple years, but he’s never been trusted to take over the starting goalkeeper position, either. Injuries played a part of course (one achilles injury, one shoulder surgery) – thus derailing at least some momentum and crucial development.

I, for one, enjoy watching this player succeed after years of waiting his turn.

UPDATE: In the middle of posting, we got this bit of news:

Congrats, Jed!