Aston Villa shock omission explained as youngster excels in rout cup win

Cameron Archer holds the Aston Villa badge in celebration after scoring against Barrow

An Aston Villa big money signing is set to return back to a former club following the 6-0 rout victory against Barrow in the Carabao Cup.

Villa travelled north for last night’s second round match. Despite making 10 changes from the weekend, Dean Smith named a side with a lot of Premier League experience, combined with some youth as well. One of those youngsters who got the nod was striker Cameron Archer.

The 20-year-old grabbed the opportunity with both hands. After opening the scoring he added two second half goals to bag a hat-trick on his full senior debut.

After the match Villa assistant manager Craig Shakespeare said: “You want to get through to the next round but then you’ve got a young boy coming in and scores a hat-trick, always pleasing.”

“I took great pleasure in watching the youth team last season, great pleasure in some of the youth players training him with us this season and staking a claim.

“But it wasn’t an easy 6-0. We have to give Barrow a bit of credit.

“But (it was) pleasing for Cameron to get his hat-trick and obviously Anwar [El-Ghazi] got a couple of goals as well.

“We’ve got a strong squad and everyone knows that we’ve got some good young players and to help their development it’s important that they get chances like this. I thought that a lot of them took the opportunity really well tonight.”

Villa absentee on his way out

Wesley Moraes striking volley in Aston Villa friendly July 2021

Notable in his absence from the squad was striker Wesley. Having returned from his long-term injury absence towards the end of last season, he had been named on the bench for the first two games of the season.

However, he was not involved at all last night. It seems that’s because he will be leaving the club imminently.

BirminghamLive are reporting he is close to a return to Club Brugge. The Brazilian will be departing for the season on loan.

Wesley joined Villa from Brugge in 2019 for a then club-record fee of £21m. He has been sidelined for nearly 75% of the time since then, though, due to the devastating injury he suffered at the start of 2020.

He is still only 24 and has three years left on his Villa deal. But at present, he is going to struggle for game time.

Not only does he have last season’s top scorer Ollie Watkins ahead of him, but there’s also new recruit Danny Ings added to the mix.

Therefore, a move back to familiar surroundings should serve him well. It will also give him the chance to get his career back on track.

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