This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Brentford full-back Rico Henry remains an option for Aston Villa, according to a report from The Athletic

With Neil Taylor and Ahmed Elmohamady out of contract in the summer, it is understood that younger replacements will be sourced by the club with Henry on their radar.

Brentford will be hoping that he's playing in the Premier League next term but if they don't go up, could he be on the move?

Our FLW writers share their thoughts...

Alfie Burns

100%. I think it’s nailed on that we will see him in the Premier League next season.

In fact, I’d go as far to say that I was surprised that Henry didn’t make the move to the Premier League back in the summer after Brentford lost the play-off final.

I can think of two or three Premier League clubs that could have done with a left-back of Henry’s quality, and still do!

Henry has improved again this season under Thomas Frank and, one way or another, he’s going to be a Premier League player in the near future.

Brentford’s hope of keeping him appears to rest on them getting over the line in the promotion race.

George Harbey

I think he is destined for a move to Villa if Brentford don’t go up.

If I’m being honest, I was convinced that Henry would leave Brentford in the summer as I just didn’t see them being able to keep hold of him given the season he had.

He played in every Championship fixture and was such an integral player bombing down that left flank, and was undoubtedly the best left-back in the league.

This season, he has also been very impressive, and it would be a miracle if they managed to keep hold of him if they didn’t go up.

I think he will want to make the move, too, if he missed out on promotion for the second year running.

Toby Wilding

I could certainly see this happening if Brentford do not get promoted.

Henry has proved to be a standout player in the Championship over the past couple of seasons, and he does look to be more than ready to make the step up to the Premier League.

As a result, it is perhaps no surprise that there appears to be interest in the left-back from the top-flight, and you only imagine that will grow if it starts to look more likely that Brentford will not be in the Premier League next season.

Should the Bees miss out on promotion, then it will make it harder for them to see off interest in Henry from a financial perspective, while the player himself would no doubt be keen on a move to the top-flight, which could again make things difficult for Brentford, and potentially set this up as an opportunity Premier League sides will not want to miss out on.