Aston Villa youngster Zepiqueno Redmond is reportedly closing in on a loan move to Huddersfield Town for the rest of the season.
Villa signed the talented 19-year-old on a free transfer earlier this summer after his previous contract with Feyenoord expired, with the Dutchman impressing for his former club as well as for the Netherlands at U19s level.
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It had been hoped that we would get a closer look at him over pre-season and perhaps for Unai Emery to make a decision on whether or not he might keep him in his first-team plans for this season. However, an injury setback prevented him from featuring over the summer schedule, and so instead he’s been focused on getting back to full fitness.
According to The Athletic, Redmond is now closing in on a loan move to Huddersfield for the remainder of the campaign, and it’s hoped that it proves to be a productive stint for the forward to continue to improve and develop his game. Jacob Tanswell has since provided an update noting that the deal is not yet done, but there are other clubs interested and so a loan switch elsewhere looks inevitable regardless of whether or not this particular move gets over the line.
The expectation is that he’ll get regular playing time to help with that process, while in contrast at Villa, he’d either have severely limited minutes at senior level, or would play with the U21s and not test himself at a higher level for another year.
In turn, it’s a sensible decision from the club, provided that the move goes through, and it’s hoped that Redmond is able to nail down a prominent role and enjoy a key chapter in his career.
Naturally, there will be a wait next summer to determine what the next step after that is for him, as Villa have made it a crucial part of our transfer strategy over the past two years to develop young talent and sell them on for a profit in order to help balance the books and boost our attempts to comply with the relevant financial regulations.
Redmond may well fall under that bracket too, but if he were to impress at Huddersfield or elsewhere, that could be the first step to proving himself to Emery, who will need competition and depth up front moving forward to ensure Ollie Watkins has someone pushing him for that starting berth up top on a consistent basis beyond this season.
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