Sign up NOW for our daily Villa newsletter direct to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

There’s a new name Aston Villa fans need to know about.

Villa’s academy has a long and rich tradition of pumping out first team stars with captain Jack Grealish undoubtedly its finest product in recent years.

The signing of Louie Barry from Barcelona sent raptures around the Premier League - but Villa have another precocious talent they want to shout about.

Carney Chukwuemeka has recently broken into Mark Delaney’s under-23 side and is now playing against men, some of whom are seven years his senior.

And the midfielder is the perfect example of what academy boss Mark Harrison is working to promote, insists chief executive Christian Purslow.

Speaking at the Villa Supporters Trust’s AGM recently, Purslow said: “Frankly, I’m going to be brutal, 22-year-olds playing in an under-23 team means your system isn’t working. It means your system has failed because 22-year-old footballers at Aston Villa need to be in the first team.

“The ultimate goal is to populate the under-23 team with 11 outstanding 16, 17 and 18-year-olds, then I will know it’s working.

"And that will take years, not months. We need to be higher in recruiting the best eight-year-old, nine-year-old, 10-year-old, 11-year-old, 12-year-old, 14, 16, one a year that makes it and gets a professional contract at 16.

“I want that player. We have one right now, probably the best 16-year-old in England, Carney (Chukwuemeka). Absolutely no debate, he’s starting for the U23s.

“That’s what you want with your 16-year-olds. Not people who are not quite breaking into the first team, but staying around on contracts because it isn’t quite happening.”