With Jacob Ramsey due to sign for Newcastle United any minute now, Aston Villa supporters would be forgiven for being sorry to see the departure of the club’s only real link between the academy and regular first team football.
Villa said goodbye to Jack Grealish four years ago and Ramsey, who’s been at the club since 2007, was the next in line to whatever weird sentimental throne we place them on as the next great claret and blue hope.
There’s nobody coming up behind Ramsey to take over the mantle. That’s not to say the academy is failing entirely or that there are no young players coming through the ranks, just that there’s now a gap between one Villa kid and the next for the first time in what feels like ages.
Lots of Villa’s young players from Birmingham, the West Midlands and beyond have impressed in pre-season friendlies this summer and I hope there are one or two who can graduate to the bench and then the pitch with the first team this season.
Until then, it’s all eyes on defender and defensive midfielder Lamare Bogarde to carry the academy flag into the starting eleven. With four competitions to fight for, it won’t be long before he’s back in the team from kick-off.
Bogarde embarking on a breakthrough season?
The extent to which Bogarde actually counts as an academy player is highly questionable but he’s 21 and has been at Villa since 2020, so he’s the closest to a Villa product with a realistic chance of cracking the first team.
He’s already taken his first steps. Bogarde played 16 times in all competitions last season, eight in the Premier League, and featured extensively in the team’s pre-season programme ahead of 2025/26.
Bogarde has plenty to prove. He’s delivered some excellent first team performances but few Villa supporters were blown away overall. He was, after all, surrounded by experienced and high-quality footballers who have that bit of grit and streetwise intelligence that only comes from playing. I think he’s about to do a lot more of it.
Perhaps I wasn’t watching closely enough last season but I think the Bogarde who played in pre-season showed some maturity and composure that might have firmly established him in the thoughts of manager Unai Emery.
A flexible Unai Emery archetype
Emery seems to see something he likes in Bogarde. As well as playing with the benefit of having more football under his belt this summer, Bogarde has been able to use the pre-season friendlies to showcase his versatility.
That might ultimately need to be restricted for the benefit of his career – or perhaps not – but it certainly seems that Emery values players who can excel in more than one position as a way to achieve de facto depth in a regulatory framework that limits Villa’s ability to build the squad they want.
Lamare Bogarde playing for Aston Villa against Roma
Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers
Lamare Bogarde in Aston Villa training
Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers
Lamare Bogarde of Aston Villa battling with Cardiff City's Callum Robinson
REUTERS/Chris Radburn
Lamare Bogarde playing for Aston Villa in the Champions League against Celtic
REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
In effect, Bogarde is on the depth chart as a central defender, a right-back and a defensive midfielder. He can play at centre-back in a two or a three, and through his ability to fulfil a variety of roles to a high standard he allows Villa to use squad spots and wages in places other than defensive back-up.
One of the hidden skills Emery can tap into by playing Bogarde is his ability to progress the ball. For all his flexibility, Bogarde is a defender with a partial midfield skillset and that can give Villa an extra dimension in possession in their own half and pushing through the middle of the pitch.
Better still, it opens up the possibility of a back three out of possession being made up of an unorthodox combination of players and Bogarde, if he’s a centre-back, advancing into areas where he’ll be unexpected and difficult to pick up.
Imagine Villa building an attack on the right with Bogarde carrying the ball to play with a right-back in the opposition half while a left-back sits in defence with the other centre-back and a midfielder. They won’t see that coming!
Bogarde’s Premier League acid test
At 21, the future is now for Bogarde. We’re about to find out what his Villa career has in store. He’s on the edges of a regular spot in the matchday squad and could easily play three times as many matches this year as he did last.
In ten months’ time we’ll know who Bogarde is and what he’s got. In terms of raw ability, tactical suitability and ticking boxes for Emery, I think there could be a real player in there who’s close to making a name for himself.