Kaine Kesler Hayden (Image: Getty Images)
Coventry City are 'leading the race' to sign Aston Villa full-back Kaine Kesler-Hayden ahead of the opening of the summer transfer window, it has been claimed.
According to The Sun’s transfer specialist Alan Nixon, the Championship club are “willing to pay £5m plus extras” for the Villa academy product who spent last season out on loan at league rivals Preston North End.
The 22-year-old featured in all but two of North End’s league games this season, making 41 starts and three showings from the bench while scoring two goals. He made 51 appearances in total in all competitions, showing his consistency and durability during his time at Deepdale.
Kesler-Hayden also swept the board at North End's end of season awards ceremony, claiming the Tom Finney award - as voted for by the club's supporters - plus the young player of the year and the supporters' player of the year gongs.
The report claims Villa “will sell” Kesler-Hayden as Unai Emery looks to “trim their squad”, and adds that the player “knows his time at his first club is nearing an end”.
A former youth team skipper at Villa, Kesler-Hayden has been on loan five times – also having had spells in the Championship with Plymouth Argyle when he made 24 appearances in 2023/24 and played 14 league games for Huddersfield the season. Prior to that he had half season loans at MK Dons in League one and Swindon Town in League two.
In terms of his parent club, he’s managed four first-team appearances for Villa to date – three in the Premier League and one in the Europa League – all late cameos off the bench.
Villa are well stocked at right-back. Matty Cash is first choice but they also recruited Andres Garcia from Levante in the January transfer window. Kosta Nedeljkovic, though, is expected to make his loan move to RB Leipzig permanent this summer.
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