Three Players Who Aston Villa Should Hold On To If They Get Promoted To The Premier League
Aston Villa, having belatedly got their act together, currently sit just 4 points behind Cardiff in 3rd place and still harbour hopes of grabbing the second automatic promotion place.
Much like Derby and Fulham to name two, if Villa don’t make it up, they will see their slow start as the reason for their failure. A better start to this campaign would have seen Villa challenging for the league title now but all is perhaps not lost.
If Steve Bruce’s men do get back to where they feel they belong, then their first order of business will be to nail down the best players they already have before looking into the transfer market for new ones. These three are crucial for the Villa Park side to retain:
Robert Snodgrass
Even at 30 years of age, Snodgrass is still going about proving his point that his quality is top notch and when played in his proper position, as he is now, he’s still every inch a Premier League player.
Having arrived on loan from West Ham and clearly not keen to go back there, a permanent transfer could be on the cards and he can definitely still cut it in this league.
The Scotland international has played at the top level for Norwich City and Hull City in more successful spells than the one at West Ham where Slaven Bilic, having signed him, reportedly asked him which position he played in!
Conor Hourihane
In terms of his stats and reputation within the football community, Hourihane was regarded as one of the better players in the league when playing for Barnsley and has carried that on now with Aston Villa.
With that in mind, he clearly has the ability to adapt and at 27 years of age, he can still peak in this position and so a Premier League mission may yet prove appropriate for him.
Jack Grealish
Grealish is potentially wanted by Premier League clubs and if coaches in the country think he’s a Premier League player then Villa absolutely must hold the same opinion.
Jack Grealish is a Birmingham boy as well, so going up to the top level but losing a) one of their best players, b) the player they have in their possession with the most potential and c) a local boy, would be a total disaster for Steve Bruce and the Villa board.