Marcus Bettinelli has been in great form for Fulham this season as they storm towards a Premier League return.

Whether that happens or not will be a close call, but the 25-year old’s appearances will certainly have caught they eye of many visiting scouts.

Up the M1, Aston Villa are in a similar position, only they don’t own their in form keeper. Sam Johnstone is set for a return to Manchester United in the summer after his heroics at Villa Park.

Could Marcus Bettinelli be the right man to take over from Johnstone at Villa Park? It would be quite a coup for Steve Bruce to nab Fulham’s number one, but if they go up perhaps it might be a realistic ask.

Marcus Bettinelli has had a superb season in between the sticks for Fulham. In his 23 appearances he kept an astonishing 11 clean sheets, almost one every other game. That's a 47.8% clean sheet percentage, the sort of number that is the envy of almost every other goal keeper in the Football League. Whilst it might be expected from a side challenging at the top of the table, it is still no mean feat.

He has a good defence in front of him, but his ratio of 3.33 saves per goal is proof that he doesn't have it easy one little bit. He's still called into action on a regular basis and the fact he saves over 75% of chances created in front of him shows what a class act he's turned into.

Inevitably there have been goals conceded, but not a ridiculous amount. Even when beaten, he rarely lets in more than one or two a game, resulting in just 15 conceded in his 23 outings. Once again, that is the sort of figure other keepers will be eying with envy.

His distribution is very good too, with 72% accuracy. That is the sort of percentage you expect to see from a midfielder who is playing the ball around in the centre of the park, not a keeper who is sometimes tasked with landing it on the head of a player 100 yards away.

So, yes, of course he’d be a good signing for Villa, but much depends on who goes up and who does not. The one thing we’re assuming here is that Bettinelli won’t be going to the Premier League with Fulham, that might be overly harsh on the former Accrington Stanley loan player.

At 25-years old he's only just starting his career, with keepers often still at the best deep into their thirties and if experience makes him a stronger keeper, there's no reason why he can't go on to play in the top flight next season and maybe even force his way into the international picture.

Aston Villa would be lucky to have him, that is for sure.