A number of Championship clubs are circling around the signature of Cameron Archer from Aston Villa.
The Daily Mail have reported that Aston Villa are facing multiple loan offers from several Championship clubs for their highly rated young attacker.
Preston North End and Derby County are among the clubs reportedly seeking a move for the player this January.
Meanwhile, the likes of Sunderland, Portsmouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton Athletic and Lincoln City are all also interested in the player.
However, the report goes on to suggest that Villa manager Steven Gerrard is happy to keep the player at the club as he wants to use him as part of his first team squad for the remainder of the season.
Villa already have the likes of Wesley and Keinan Davis out on loan so Archer is now next in line behind the team’s established options of Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings.
Archer, who has appeared for England at underage level for the U20s side, has featured three times for Villa so far in his career. Most recently, Archer scored a hat trick in the Carabao Cup in Villa’s 6-0 thrashing of Barrow in August.
The Verdict
It’s interesting that Gerrard wants to keep him at the club for the season. It indicates that Villa themselves aren’t likely to make any more signings this January in that department.
Archer is clearly well sought after, with up to six or seven clubs hoping to sign him this month. Perhaps Villa could be persuaded to let him move out on loan, but if they cannot find another player in that position in January then it makes a lot of sense for them to keep him where he is and he will likely get an opportunity in the Premier League if he does stay.
One of these clubs will need to find a very convincing argument against staying because a spot on a Premier League bench will be quite appealing for a young player in Archer's position.
He would be valuable for the likes of Derby, or Sunderland who could gain massively by adding an extra goal scorer into their squad as they battle against relegation and for promotion respectively.