Aston Villa have one of the hottest young properties in English football right now in Cameron Archer and it appears as though the club could decide soon where he will end up next season, as reported by The Athletic.

The striker has already broken into the first-team picture at Villa Park, with the team giving him three league appearances in the Premier League during the 2021/22 season.

However, those showings only led to 27 minutes of action in total and he was allowed to spend the second half of the campaign out on a loan deal in the Championship with Preston. Given regular football, the player began to thrive.

From January onwards, he managed 20 games and seven goals with one assist and lit up Deepdale during his time there. He became a real fan favourite and the club and their supporters will be desperate to get him back as soon as they can.

However, his showings in the second tier have caught the eye of other clubs as well. Newly-promoted Sunderland are keen to try and snap him up too, as are teams in Scotland like Rangers.

There could be a few bids launched for the striker's services this window then - and it appears as though his future could become clearer in the not too distant future. That's because, according to The Athletic, Villa are set to decide very soon whether to ship him out on a short-term basis again or not.

There will be plenty of teams hoping that the Premier League outfit do decide to send him out again then - and then there could be a few offers thrown the way of the Villa player.

The Verdict

Cameron Archer in his brief spell in the Championship looked absolutely electric.

He really impressed for Preston and it's no surprise to see the Lilywhites keen to bring him back to Deepdale and several other teams also eyeing up a potential deal for his services this offseason. He's shown he can bag at a second tier level with his goal record last term in just half a campaign, so a full season could get even more out of him.

In spite of his age, he looks as though he could be the real deal already and has impressed for his parent club too. It also wouldn't be shocking to see the youngster given time with Villa this year in the Premier League instead, rather than being shipped out on a loan deal again.

Regardless of where he ends up playing, the chances are he'll be much more of a prominent and regular feature in the Premier League or EFL in the next campaign - so expect to see a lot more of Archer.